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THE 


PILLARS  OF  HERCULES ; 

OR, 

A  NARRATIVE  OF  TRAVELS 

IN 

SPAIN    AND    MOROCCO 

in  1848. 

BY 

DAVID    URQUHART,  ESQ.,  M.P., 


AUTHOR    OF 


"  TURKEY    AND    ITS    RESOURCES,      "  THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE    EAST,"    ETC. 

IN   TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


LONDON: 

RICHARD   BENTLEY, 

9uMt'0f}et  in  <©toinat;»  to  &et  jfflajestp. 

1850. 


V     I. 


LONDON: 

Printed  by  S.  &  J.  Bentley  and  Henry  Fley, 
Bangor  House,  Shoe  Lane. 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  did  not  visit  Morocco  or  Spain  on  any  settled 
plan.  I  was  on  my  way  to  Italy  by  sea,  and  passing 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  was  so  fascinated  by 
the  beauty  and  mysteries  of  the  adjoining  lands,  that 
I  relinquished  my  proposed  excursion  for  the  explora- 
tions which  are  here  recorded. 

Barbary,  to  the  attraction  of  the  unknown  and  the 
original,  which  it  shares  in  common  with  China  and 
Japan,  adds  that  of  association  with  the  country  which, 
of  all  others,  has  a  claim  on  our  affections — Canaan. 
With  Barbary  also  is  interwoven  the  history  of  various 
races,  great,  ancient,  and  mysterious :  the  Canaanite, 
the  Hebrew,  the  Highland  Celt,  and  the  Saracen.  It  has 
become  the  last  refuge  of  the  Philistine.  The  Jews,  in 
other  countries,  by  adopting  the  habits  of  strangers, 
have  lost  their  type,  which  is  to  be  seen  alone  in 
Barbary,  where  Judaea,  effaced  in  Asia,  doubly  survives. 
Here  must  we  seek  the  liviug  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures ;  here  may  we  find  insight  into  early  things. 

The  connexion  of  the  Scotch  clans  with  Barbary 
depends  on  no  ethnographic  affinity,  but  their  passage 
through,  and  sojourn  in,  this  land,  reveal  the  history 
of  their  wanderings,  and  explain  the  peculiarities 
of  their  race.    Here  are  to  be  found  to-day  the  people 

a2 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

who  made  Spain  a  garden,  taught  it  at  once  the  arts 
of  war  and  peace ;  and  thence  spread  that  knowledge 
to  the  rest  of  Europe.  That  stream  which  then  over- 
flowed, has  retired  to  its  fountain,  where  it  lies  deep, 
but  not  changed. 

Spain  and  Morocco  present  treasures  unknown,  in 
those  regions  which  have  been  subject  to  repeoplings 
and  fundamental  changes.  "  The  life  of  nations/' 
says  Erchhoff,  "manifests  itself  in  their  language, 
which  is  the  faithful  representative  of  their  vicissi- 
tudes. Where  chronology  stops,  and  the  thread  of 
tradition  is  broken,  the  antique  genealogy  of  words 
that  have  survived  the  ruin  of  empires  comes  in  to 
shed  light  on  the  very  cradle  of  humanity,  and  to 
consecrate  the  memory  of  generations  long  since 
engulfed  in  the  quicksands  of  time."  The  unchanged 
tongue  here  gives  additional  force  to  that  genealogy — 
here  history  is  nearly  mute.  The  same  monumental 
character,  however,  belongs  to  manners,  costume,  and 
tradition.  I  have  not,  therefore,  hesitated  to  devote 
considerable  space  to  these  inquiries,  as,  indeed,  they 
constituted  the  chief  attraction  of  the  excursions, 
which  seemed  to  be  less  through  new  countries  than 
remote  ages. 

I  have  to  bespeak  the  reader's  indulgence  for 
inviting  him  often  to  accompany  me  with  his  atten- 
tion through  homely  paths.  I  have  brought  him  in 
presence  of  the  most  trivial  practices.  I  have  not 
described,  as  a  stranger  would,  a  different  manner  of 
life;  but  endeavoured,  as  a  native,  to  explain  matters 


INTRODUCTION.  v 

from  which  we  might  derive  benefits  in  health,  com- 
fort, happiness,  or  taste,  from  their  old  experience. 
Wherever  I  have  drawn  comparisons,  it  has  been  for 
our  advantage,  not  for  theirs.  It  has,  therefore,  been 
their  merits,  not  ours,  that  I  have  placed  in  evidence. 

I  have  no  expectation  that  my  suggestions  will 
modify  the  lappet  of  a  coat,  or  the  leavening  of  a  loaf; 
but  there  is  one  subject  in  which  I  am  not  without 
hope  of  having  placed  a  profitable  habit  more  within 
the  chance  of  adoption  than  it  has  hitherto  been — I 
mean  the  bath. 

Cleanliness,  like  inebriety  or  intemperance,  may  be 
at  once  a  fashion  and  a  passion.  Appearing  amongst 
us  under  both  shapes,  it  has  also  assumed  that  of 
charity.  As  soon  as  it  was  felt  that  it  was  shameful 
to  be  dirty,  it  became  a  work  of  charity  to  wash  the 
filthy,  no  less  than  to  feed  the  hungry.  These  dispo- 
sitions offer  an  opportunity  of  reviving  the  bath  in 
all  its  classic  grace,  and  investing  it  with  all  its 
Eastern  attractions ;  but  the  occasion  may  be  lost — 
that  is,  we  may  rest  satisfied  with  what  we  have  done, 
and  the  new  wash-houses  may  pass  current  as  achieve- 
ments of  economy  and  models  of  cleanliness.  The 
occasion  can  be  put  to  profit  only  by  the  knowledge 
of  the  bath  in  its  bearings  on  the  individual  and 
on  society ;  and  I  have  made  the  attempt  to  describe  it, 
so  that  it  shall  be  understood  in  its  uses,  enjoyments, 
and  construction. 

We  have  recently  been  imitating  barbarous  times 
in    church   architecture.     These   times   offer    to   our 


vi  INTRODUCTION. 

admiration  usages  as  well  as  forms.  Shall  we  have 
eyes  for  a  Gothic  spire,  and  none  for  a  Roman  bath  % 
Nations  may  have  refinement,  and  yet  be  destitute 
of  common  sense  ;  they  may  be  possessed  of  sense,  and 
yet  be  without  refinement.  A  people  without  the  bath 
can  lay  claim  to  neither. 

Morocco  calls  attention  to  the  past ;  Spain  directs 
it  to  the  future.  We  pass  from  dreams  to  delusions, 
from  poetry  to  politics.  Belgium  has  been  termed  the 
battle-field  of  Europe — Spain  is  its  bone  of  contention. 
The  Italian  Peninsula  is  the  field  of  the  rivalries  of 
France  and  Austria,  which  England  balances  and 
adjusts.  In  the  East,  England  and  France  are  united 
by  the  advance  of  Russia ;  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula 
they  are  alone  in  presence  of  each  other  :  the  aim  of 
each  is  to  gain  ascendancy,  and  thence  a  constant 
source  of  irritation. 

The  political  experiment  which  is  at  present  being 
made  in  Spain,  consists  in  applying  European  terms 
to  a  country  where  there  are  no  European  ideas,  and 
European  institutions  to  a  state  of  things  wholly 
unlike  Europe.  The  following  fragment  of  a  conver- 
sation with  a  leading  statesman  conveys  that  contrast 
in  the  fewest  words. 

Spaniard. — I  am  sorry  that  you  see  Spain  in  such 
a  distracted  condition. 

Author. — I  am  rejoiced  to  find  her  in  one  so 
flourishing. 

Sp. — I  wish  it  were  so.  Surely  you  are  not  in 
earnest  ? 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

A . — I  wish  my  country  were  in  the  same  condition 
as  yours. 

Sp. — But  your  country  is  rich,  powerful,  united. 
We  are  poor,  weak,  and  distracted. 

A. — I  am  thinking  of  the  contrast  between  your 
people  and  ours. 

Sp. — In  what  does  that  contrast  consist  \ 

A . — In  a  larger  share  of  comforts,  and  fewer  po- 
litical evils. 

Sp. — As  to  the  former,  I  think  you  are  right.  I 
do  not  think  that  the  people  of  France  have  so  much 
of  the  enjoyments  of  life  as  ours  ;  but  as  for  our  being 
freer  from  political  evils  than  England,  I  cannot  agree 
with  you. 

A . — If  you  will  permit  me  to  take  them  separately, 
I  think  we  shall  find  no  difficulty  in  agreeing. 

Sp. — Certainly. 

A. — The  chief  source  of  our  animosities  springs 
from  differences  in  religion. 

Sp. — We  are  not  troubled  with  these  in  Spain. 

A. — The  next  is  difference  of  race. 

Sp. — We  are  free  from  this  too. 

A. — Have  you  two  great  organized  interests,  com- 
mercial and  agricultural  1 

Sp. — From  these  too  we  are  free. 

A. — Have  you  two  powerful  opinions,  monarchical 
and  republican,  as  those  which  divide  France  % 

Sp. — We  have  not. 

A . — Have  you  been  brought  to  within  an  hour  of 
revolution  and  bankruptcy  by  an  "  ideal  standard  V 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

Sp. —  Spain   has    no    financial    difficulties    of    an 
abstract  kind. 

A. — Do  you  suffer  from  the  despotic  power  of  a 
sovereign  % 

Sp.—No. 

A . — Have  you  to  fear  the  turbulence  of  a  mob  % 

Sp. — No ;    the  people    of  Spain  are  docile,   when 
left  alone. 

A, — Are  there   oppressive  privileges  belonging  to 
the  aristocracy'? 

Sp.— No. 

A. — Is  the  power  of  the  Church  excessive,  and 
misapplied,  or  its  wealth  inordinate  I 

Sp. — No,  we  have  none  of  these  evils  in  Spain. 

A . — Have  you  pauperism  I 

Sp. — No  ; — nevertheless  we  are  distracted. 

A . — It  is,  therefore,  my  turn  now  to  ask,  why  \ 

Sp. — I  should  like  to  hear  your  reasons. 

A. — They  are  contained  in  the  fact,  that  it  is  I 
who  ask  these  questions,  and  you  who  reply. 

Sp. — Our  distractions  would  not  subside,  if  I 
thought  as  well  of  Spain  as  you  do. 

A. — My  meaning  is,  that  the  imitation  of  Europe 
is  the  source  of  the  troubles  of  Spain. 

Since  this  conversation  occurred,  Spain  has  justified 
these  conclusions,  by  remaining  unmoved  amidst  the 
storm  of  opinion  which  has  swept  over  Europe. 

London,  October,  1849. 


CONTENTS 


THE    FIRST    VOLUME. 


BOOK   I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    STRAITS   OF    GIBRALTAR 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CURRENTS    OF    THE    STRAITS 

CHAPTER  III. 

GIBRALTAR    OF    THE   MOORS 

CHAPTER  IV. 

EXCURSION    ROUND    THE    STRAITS 


21 


.       32 


51 


CHAPTER  V. 


ALGECIRAS— -  TARIFA 


60 


CHAPTER  VI. 


CEUTA 


85 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CEUTA — BOMBARDMENT    OF    TANGIER 


.     114 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  VIII. 


CADIZ 


126 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EXCURSION    ROUND    THE    STRAITS         .  .  .  .145 

CHAPTER  X. 

EXCURSION    IN    THE   STRAITS — CADIZ    POLITENESS  .  172 

CHAPTER  XI. 

OARTEIA TYRE    AND    HER    WARES — GLASS  .  .188 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    STONE    OF    HERCULES  ....  204 


BOOK  II. 

THE    COUNTRY    OF    THE   ROVERS. 
CHAPTER  I. 

OFF    SALEE        .  .....  254 

CHAPTER  II. 

RABAT         .......      277 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   JEWS    AND    JEWRY    IN    RABAT  .  .  .  299 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   BA1RAM  ......       317 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   SULTAN  !    HIS   COMMERCIAL   SYSTEM  .  .  332 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  VI. 

TI1E    ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE    IN    RABAT 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CONNEXION    BETWEEN    MAURITANIA    AND    AMERICA 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

DOMESTIC    ARCHITECTURE    OF    THE   MOORS 


XI 


339 


353 


364 


BOOK  III. 

THE    ARAB    TENT. 
CHAPTER  I. 

HUNTING    EXPEDITION    TO    SHAVOYA 

CHAPTER  II. 


RTSCOUSSOO 


THE    HA1K 


A    BOAR-HUNT 


CHAPTER  III. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


377 


398 


416 


440 


THE 


PILLARS   OF   HERCULES. 


BOOK   I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    STRAITS    OF    GIBRALTAR. 

"  Nullus  amor  populi  nee  fcedera  sunto  : 
Exoriare  aliquis  nostris  ex  ossibus  ultor, 
Qui  face  Dardanios  ferroque  sequare  colonos  ; 
Nunc,  olim,  quocunque  dabunt  se  tempore  vires. 
Littora  littoribus  contraria,  fluctibus  undas 
Imprecor,  arma  armis,  pugnent  ipsique  nepotes." 

To  thread  one's  way  through  a  narrow  gap  from 
the  outer  Ocean  into  a  basin  spread  between  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe,  is  an  occasion  which  even  books 
of  geography  cannot  render  wholly  uninteresting  and 
common-place. 

This  sea  has,  at  each  extremity,  a  narrow  entrance ; 
through  both  the  water  rushes  in  :  each  forms  the 
point   of  junction   of  two   quarters   of  the  globe, — 

VOL.  i.  B 


2  THE   GUT   OF   GIBRALTAR. 

Europe  there  meeting  Asia — here,  Africa.  The  first 
is  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  important  position 
of  the  globe.  The  land  and  sea  there  reciprocally 
command  each  other.  A  capital,  an  emporium,  and 
a  fortress,  combined  in  one,  are  placed  at  the  meet- 
ing of  two  continents  and  two  seas,  "  like  a  diamond," 
to  use  the  words  of  a  Turkish  annalist,  "  between 
two  emeralds  and  two  sapphires,  the  master-stone  in 
the  ring  of  empire." 

Had  the  western  entrance  received  the  slightest 
pressure  at  its  formation,  had  one  of  the  hills  since 
slipped  down  into  its  channel,  the  Gut  of  Gibraltar 
would  not  be  the  Ring  on  the  finger,  but  the  rod 
of  Empire  in  the  hand  of  whoever  possessed  it.  Hap- 
pily, however,  no  guns  can  cross,  and  no  batteries 
command,  the  passage  through  which  flows  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  and,  at  times,  the  food  of 
nations. 

Both  banks  of  the  Bosphorus  are  under  the  same 
dominion,  and  inhabited  by  the  same  people.  The 
channel  bisects  an  Empire  and  traverses  a  Capital. 
Two  people,  so  dissimilar,  occupy  here  the  opposite 
shores,  that  they  might  belong  to  different  planets. 
No  fishing-boat  ventures  across,  and  if  so  driven, 
they  take  care  if  they  can  to  anchor  beyond  mus- 
ket-shot. As  to  neighbourhood,  the  whole  Atlantic 
might  as  well  roll  between  them.  As  to  intercourse, 
they  might  as  well  belong  to  distinct  orders  of  crea- 
tion. They  hold  each  other  like  to  those  unsightly 
and    malignant   monsters   to   which    ancient  mytho- 


MOROCCO.  3 

logy  consigned  the  western  portions  of  the  world.  If 
intercourse  is  rendered  necessary,  there  is  a  preli- 
minary parley  and  a  flag  of  truce,  and  even  the  cere- 
monial of  a  friendly  meeting  records  the  accomplish- 
ment of  Dido's  prophecy  and  curse. 

Yet  this  is  no  forbidding  land.  There  are  neither 
sands  nor  precipices.  There  are  neither  rudeness  and 
asperity,  nor  barrenness  and  waste.  There  are  lowly 
vales  and  verdant  plains,  as  well  as  gigantic  moun- 
tains. This  great,  this  beautiful  country — this  corner 
of  a  mighty  continent — almost  touches  Europe.  One- 
half  of  our  whole  trade  passes  along  it ;  yet  it  is  sealed 
against  us  more  effectually  than  China  or  Japan. 

European  enterprize,  by  lust  of  conquest,  love  of 
gain,  or  spirit  of  proselytism,  has  made  the  wide  world 
its  vineyard  ;  and,  combining  its  various  engines,  has, 
far  and  near,  shattered  thrones,  and  subjugated  or 
extinguished  races.  How  is  it  that  Morocco  stands 
unmoved  and  unassailed  % 

All  the  nations  which  formed  part  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  have  become  Mussulmans,  have  fallen 
under  the  sway  of  Constantinople,  Morocco  alone  ex- 
cepted. All  the  barbarous  States,  which  have  attracted 
the  cupidity  of  Europeans,  have  fallen  under  their 
sway,  Morocco  alone  excepted.  But  the  breakers 
of  her  shores,  the  sands  of  her  deserts,  the  valour  of 
her  sons,  the  wildness  of  her  tribes,  have  not  alone 
done  this.  Threatened  now  by  a  new  enemy  and  a 
new  danger,  the  past  is  worth  sifting,  in  order  to 
anticipate  whether  or   not   she  will  hold  her   own  ; 


4  ATTEMPTS   TO 

or  if  she  fall,  whether   she  will  rot   away,  or   sink 
brightly  and  bravely,  preserving 

Genio  y  figura 
Hasta  la  sepultura. 

It  is  an  old  story,  and  we  have  forgotten  it,  that 
on  Morocco  our  first  and  greatest  essays  of  conquest 
were  made.  England  expended  upon  the  fortification 
of  Tangier  more  than  all  she  ever  advanced  for  the 
conquest  of  India.  Portugal  and  Spain,  who  had 
found  it  necessary  to  separate,  by  half  the  globe,  their 
other  enterprizes,  here  combined,  and  expended  more 
lives,  ships,  and  treasure  in  their  fruitless  attempts 
than  in  the  subjugation  of  the  East  Indies  and  the 
West.  Neighbourhood,  political  hatred,  religious  ani- 
mosity, combined  with  the  prospects  of  dominion,  and 
the  hope  of  obtaining  supplies  of  the  precious  metals, 
to  urge  them  to  make  and  continue  these  attempts. 
Elsewhere,  by  their  wonderful  successes,  unknown  ad- 
venturers— a  Cortez,  a  Pizzaro,  and  an  Albukerque — 
were  converted  into  heroes.  Here  Princes  of  the  State 
and  Church,  Kings  and  Emperors,  were  the  leaders — 
to  experience  only  failure  and  disgrace.  Elsewhere 
handfuls  of  men  conquered  myriads.  Here  mighty 
armaments  have  been  annihilated  by  despised  foes. 
Elsewhere  a  native  power  had  to  do  with  but  one 
European  assailant.  Morocco  numbered  amongst  her 
assailants  every  European  power.  She  holds  the 
bones  of  English  peers,  of  Turkish  beys,  of  Por- 
tuguese   princes,  Andalusian  kings.      She  has  foiled 


SUBJUGATE   MOROCCO.  5 

an  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  discomfited  in  succes- 
sion the  warlike  operations,  or  the  political  plans  of 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  of  Philip  II.,  Don  Sebastian,  and 
Barbarossa.  Spain  has  some  fortified  points  upon  the 
coast,  but  they  are  blockaded;  and  this  smothered 
warfare  is  a  living  record  of  our  aggressions,  and 
her  delivery. 

That  event  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
revolutions."*  The  Spaniards  were  in  possession  of 
all  the  north  country.  The  Portuguese  had  extended 
themselves  along  the  whole  of  the  seaboard  of  the 
west,  down  as  far  as  Suz.  The  native  troops  in  their 
pay  at  one  time  exceeded  100,000.  The  four  king- 
doms of  which  Morocco  is  now  constituted,  were  then 
distinct,  and  the  various  courts  rivalled  each  other 
in   pusillanimity   and    corruption,    exhibiting    every 

*  Ferdinand  of  Castile,  after  the  death  of  Isabella,  and  the 
conclusion  of  the  Neapolitan  war,  joined  the  Portuguese  in  the 
conquest  of  Morocco,  on  which  they  were  then  engaged,  and 
settled  the  distribution  of  future  conquests.  The  Spaniards 
were  to  have  all  eastward  of  Tetuan,  the  Portuguese  all  westward 
of  Ceuta.  Ferdinand  himself  led  a  great  expedition  of  a  hundred 
thousand  men  ;  and  a  second,  equally  powerful,  sailed  under  Car- 
dinal Ximenes.  Millella,  Penon  de  Velez,  Oran,  Tremcen,  Fide- 
litz,  Mostagan,  Algiers,  Bugia,  Tunis,  and  finally  Tripoli,  were 
captured,  or  occupied  on  the  flight  of  the  inhabitants ;  so  that 
the  Kings  of  Spain  were  in  possession  of  the  whole  coast  of 
Africa,  from  Egypt  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar ;  while  the  dis- 
tracted Moorish  State  was  vigorously  attacked  by  the  Portuguese 
on  the  other  side,  where  they  had  obtained  either  permanent  or 
temporary  possession  of  Ceuta,  Tangier,  Arzilla,  Larache,  Salee, 
Azymore,  Mogadore  ;  and  their  conquests  extended  beyond  the 
il.t  Ha  spur  of  the  Atlas  into  Suz. 


6  THE  MOORS. 

symptom  of  dissolution,  from  the  disorders  within 
and  the  power  that  threatened  from  abroad.  It  was 
then  that  a  family  of  mendicants  and  fanatics  issued 
like  lions  from  the  desert,  upset  the  ruling  dynasties, 
re-kindled  the  flame  of  patriotism,  rallied  the  sink- 
ing people,  drove  forth  the  invaders,  constructed  a 
common  Empire  out  of  these  divided  States,  and 
placed  their  Dynasty  upon  the  throne,  which  it  oc- 
cupies to  this  day. 

From  that  time  only  have  Europe  and  Africa  be- 
come strangers  to  each  other  ;  and  so  Morocco  has 
maintained  the  independence  so  strangely  won. 

What  renders  this  non-intercourse  surprising  is 
neighbourhood  ;  yet  that  is  its  explanation.  Here 
Europeans  could  not  be  taken  for  Children  of  the 
Sun,  nor  supposed  to  be  quiet  traders  seeking  only 
commerce  :  the  watchfulness  of  this  people  was  not, 
as  in  India,  overreached,  nor  their  affections,  as  in 
America,  surprised. 

The  men  who,  in  times  of  difficulty,  have  made 
themselves  immortal  names,  have  done  nothing  more 
than  endeavour  to  arouse  their  countrymen  from  false 
security,  or  to  guard  them  against  mistaken  confidence. 
The  Moor  is  deficient  in  polite  literature  and  is  igno- 
rant of  Greek ;  but  he  already  was  in  himself  what  the 
wisest  words  of  Demosthenes  might  have  taught  him  to 
be,  and  was  prepared  to  do  what  the  loftiest  strains  of 
Tyrtasus  might  have  inspired.  From  the  beginning  the 
African  has  been  preyed  upon  by  the  other  quarters  of 
the  globe.     His  wrongs  have  been  stored  up  in  his 


THEIR   PRESENT   NEIGHBOURS.  7 

retentive  breast.*  Thence  that  hate  which  is  his  life  ; 
by  it  he  has  anticipated  the  lessons  of  wisdom,  and  by 
it  he  is  a  match  for  science  and  power.f 

Morocco  has  consequently  been  in  this  distinguished 
from  the  other  countries  that  surround  the  Mediter- 
ranean— she  has  not  till  now  furnished  to  France  and 
England  fuel  or  field  for  rivalry  and  contention.  Now 
she  is  brought  again  within  the  vortex  of  European 
politics,  and  identified  in  interest  with  Spain  by  hav- 
ing the  same  neighbour,  and  that  neighbour  the  rival 
of  England.  We  may  again  see  rehearsed  on  the  same 
arena,  the  drama  of  Rome  and  Carthage. 

As  I  floated  down  this  river,  of  which  the  Atlantic  is 

*  "Extraordinary  Occurrence  in  Africa. — A  letter  from 
Gerli  (Gerba),  regency  of  Tunis,  recounts  a  strange  scene  of  recent 
occurrence.  There  exists  at  Gerli  a  sort  of  pyramid,  constructed 
of  the  heads  of  decapitated  Christians,  principally  Maltese,  Sici- 
lians, and  Spaniards,  who  fell  or  were  taken  prisoners  at  the 
battle  of  the  29th  of  July,  1560.  At  the  request  of  Sir  T.  Reade, 
the  British  Consul,  and  the  Vicar  Apostolic  of  Terrara,  the  Bey 
sent  orders  to  the  Governor  for  the  demolition  of  this  lugubrious 
monument.  Saturday,  the  7th  of  August,  was  the  day  fixed  for 
the  ceremony.  All  the  authorities  were  assembled.  No  sooner, 
however,  had  the  masons  commenced  operations,  than  some  Zoua- 
vian  soldiers  and  other  armed  individuals  rushed  into  the  arena, 
and  with  yells  of  rage  shouted  that  the  time  was  come  for  substi- 
tuting the  skulls  of  the  Christians  present  on  the  spot  for  those 
of  which  the  pyramid  was  constructed.  The  Governor  attempted 
in  vain  to  appease  these  fanatics.  He  was  so  ill-treated  as  to  be 
compelled  to  retire.  It  is  hoped  that  Sir  T.  Reade  will  be  called 
upon  to  obtain  satisfaction  for  this  outrage." —  Paris  paper. 

t  "  Africa,  in  its  interior,  is  the  least  known  quarter  of  the 
globe,  and  perhaps  fortunately  for  its  inhabitants  will  long 
remain  so." — IIeeren,  Carthag.  c.  iv. 


8  HISTORIC   INTEREST   OF  THE   STRAITS. 

the  fountain,  and  the  Mediterranean  the  sea,  remem- 
bering the  Dardanelles,  I  felt  with  Cicero,  that  he  in- 
deed was  happy  who  could  visit,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
Straits  of  Pontus,  and  on  the  other,  those 

"  Europam  Lybiamque  rapax  ubi  dividit  unda." 
And  that  Atlas,  sustaining  the  heavens  on  his  shoul- 
ders,* no  less  than  Prometheus  fixed  upon  the  Caucasus, 
might  convey  in  fables  early  and  divine  truths. 

This  is  a  spot  which  has  influenced  the  destinies  and 
formed  the  character,  not  of  one  but  of  many  people : 
it  is  the  home  of  the  fleeing  Canaanite,  the  bourne  of 
the  wandering  Arab ;  it  was  the  limit  of  the  ancient 
world.  That  world  of  mystery  and  of  poetry,  was 
not  like  ours.  It  was  not  crammed  into  a  Gazetteer, 
nor  were  its  laws  a  school-boy  lesson  learned  by  rote. 
These  Straits,f  then  the  peculiar  domain  of  mythology, 
were  approached  with  natural  wonder  and  religious 
awe.  The  doubtful  inquirer  came  hither  to  see  if 
the  sky  met  and  rested  upon  the  earth — if  Atlas  did 
indeed  bear  a  starry  burden — to  discover  what  the 

'E7rei  fxe  %  al  KCKriyvrjTOv  rvxot 
Teipova'  ArXavros,  6?  npos  ia7repovs  tottovs 
earrjKe,  kiov  ovpavov  re  Kai  x^°^os 

a>p,oiv  ipeibatv,  o^do?  ovk  evdyKaXov. 

Esch.  Prom. 
t  The  Straits  were  the  pivot  of  Cicero's  cosmography.  In  the 
Tusculan  Disputations,  commemorating  the  wonders  of  nature,  he 
speaks  of  "  the  globe  of  the  Earth  standing  forth  out  of  the  Sea, 
fixed  in  the  middle  space  ■  of  the  universal  World,  habitable  and 
cultivated  in  two  distant  regions  ;  that  which  we  inhabit  being 
placed  under  the  axis  towards  the  seven  stars  ;  the  other  region, 
the  Australian,  unknown  to  us ;  the  remainder  uncultivated, 
stiffened  with  cold,  or  burnt  up  with  heat." 


THE   MEDITERRANEAN.  9 

world  was— whether  an  interminable  plain,  or  a  ball 
launched  in  space  or  floating  on  the  water — whether 
the  ocean  was  a  portion  of  it  or  supported  it — whether 
beyond  the  "  Pillars"*  was  the  origin  of  present 
things,  or  the  receptacle  of  departed  ones — whether 
the  road  lay  to  Chaos  or  to  Hades. 

And  something,  too,  of  these  feelings  crept  over  me, 
even  although  I  came  hither  merely  to  ruminate  on 
the  past  deeds  of  men,  the  shadows  of  which  I  looked 
for  on  the  face  of  that  watery  mirror,  which  was  the 
centre  of  their  solid  globe— the  resolver,  the  adjuster 
of  all  their  contests.  The  Mediterranean  has  made 
the  world  such  as  it  is.  Ancient  history  has  been 
balanced  on  its  bosom  ;  and  without  the  passage  con- 
necting it  with  the  ocean,  none  of  the  events  of  recent 
history  could  have  happened. 

To  the  dwellers  on  the  skirt  of  Palestine  she  was  a 
handmaid  for  a  thousand  years,  affording  a  liquid  way 
for  the  wares  which  they  scattered  over  half  the  globe : 
From  her  bosom  rose  on  all  sides  those  sea-kings  of 
the  south,  the  Pelasgi.  She  bore  the  Etruscans  to  their 
Ausonian  homes.  She  furnished  to  the  African  daughter 
of  Tyre  the  elements  of  the  power  by  which  she  was 
enabled  to  compete  for  the  dominion  of  the  world. 

'Y/xei?  ft,  (o  povcrai,  cricokias  ivfiroire  K€\evdovs 
' Apgdpcvat  o-rot^Soi/  d(py  ecnrepov  y£lKcavolo. 
"Evdd  re  Kai  crTrjXai  ncp\  repfiatriv  Hpaickrjos 
'Earuo-iv,  plya  davpa  nap  eVxaroezra  Tadeipa, 
MaKpbv  vno  irprjiova  Tvo\v<rrvcp€Oiv  '  ArXavrcov, 
rH^i  tc  Kul  \a\Kfios  es  ovpavov  fdpape  k'mv 
'HX(/3aros.  nvKtvolcri  KakimToptvos  vecpecaai. 

Dionysius  Afrkanis. 


10  PROGRESS   OF 

Transferred  by  the  struggle  of  a  few  hours,  and  by  the 
sinking  of  a  few  craft  —  she  carried  with  her  that 
dominion  to  Rome,  and  fixed  it  there  for  centuries. 

When  the  course  of  that  Empire  was  run,  and  barba- 
rism had  spread  over  the  land,  she  fitted  up  new  and 
beautiful  things  upon  her  shores  ;  nurtured  Amalphi 
and  Venice  and  Pisa,  and  built  up  Genoa  and  Barcelona. 
Then  opened  a  new  order.  Seamanship,  by  magnetic 
touch  endowed  with  wings,  dared  to  lose  sight  of  earth  : 
issuing  from  these  portals,  it  gave  to  the  princes  of 
the  Peninsula  the  knowledge  of  a  new  world,  and  the 
title  of  lords  of  the  eastern  and  western  hemispheres. 

Maritime  power,  now  no  longer  pent  up  within  the 
land,  was  successively  competed  for  and  attained  by 
Holland  and  by  England  :  it  conferred  upon  the  one 
independence  at  home — upon  the  other,  dominion 
in  the  remotest  regions  of  the  earth.  Here  are 
connected  the  first  enterprizes  of  man  and  his  last 
struggles.  Hence  was  the  path  sought  to  Britain. 
Here  now  floats  Britain's  standard.  The  ruins  of  the 
Temple  of  Hercules  saw  Trafalgar's  fight.  Here  the 
hero  of  the  Phoenix,  prince,  navigator,  trader,  con- 
queror of  monsters,  fertilizer  of  lands,  found  again 
the  tides  of  his  early  home  in  the  Indian  ocean,*  and 


*  Philostratus,  in  the  life  of  Apollonius,  mentions  that  he 
himself  had  seen  the  ebb  and  flow,  which  he  ascribes  to  the  true 
cause.  "  All  the  phases  of  the  moon  during  the  increase,  fulness 
and  wane,  are  to  be  observed  in  the  sea.  Hence  it  comes  to 
pass  that  the  ocean  follows  the  changes  of  the  moon  by  increasing 
and  decreasing  with  it." 


MARITIME   DISCOVERY.  11 

set  up  his  Pillars.     His  mighty  shade  has  its  resting 
place  on  the  spot  which  is  honoured  with  his  name. 

The  next  stage  of  discovery  brings  us  to  Columbus 
and  Gama :  this  was  the  goal  of  the  enterprise  of  the 
Phoenician — it  was  the  starting-post  of  the  Ligurian. 
In  the  unexplored  waste  a  second  Thule  succeeded, 
and  a  new  Peru  supplied  the  exhausted  one  of  old. 
"The  stone  of  Hercules"  and  the  "cup  of  Apollo"* 
showed  the  way  to  the  regions  towards  which  the  one 
had  travelled  and  where  the  other  set.  But  the 
modern  adventurers  had  the  problem  solved  for  them, 
not  in  the  reasonings  only,  but  in  the  poetry  of  the 
ancients.f  They  had  divided  the  earth,  by  degrees — 
fixed  their  number  and  measure — they  knew  the 
length  of  the  day — they  knew  how  many  hours  the 
sun  spent  over  the  regions  they  were  acquainted  with. 
Fifteen  twenty-fourths  of  his  time  they  could  account 
for.  Nine  hours  remained  unexplored  to  complete  the 
circle.J 

*  By  the  rediscovery  of  the  mariner's  compass,  the  voyage 
along  the  "Western  coast  of  Africa  became  practicable,  and  to  this 
is  owing  the  passage  by  the  Cape  to  India,  as  well  as  the  discovery 
of  America.  Without  Columbus  that  discovery  would  have  been 
made.  The  Portuguese,  in  their  second  expedition  to  India,  fell 
on  the  Brazils  just  as  the  Chinese  junk  on  its  way  to  England  was 
forced  to  America. 

t  'ilKfavos  re  nepig  Iv  vdaat  yaiav 

EiXtVo-wi/. 

Song  of  Orpheus. 
'Os  7repiKVfxaivei  yairjs  nepireppova  kvkXov.  Id. 

X  Eratosthenes  of  Cyrene  measured  the  terrestrial  meridian  by 
the  problem  worked  out  from  the  well  of  Syene.  To  predict 
eclipses  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens  must  be  known.     They 


12  THE   PROPHECY   OF 

But  whilst  Don  Henry  was  daily  gazing  over  the 
unmeasured  expanse  to  the  west,  the  use  of  the  globes 
and  the  rationale  of  geography  were  being  taught  in 
Italy  in  verse.  The  sun  must  be  expected,  Pulci 
sings,  there  whither  he  hastens  ;  where  he  sets,  it 
cannot  be  night  :  space  is  not  useless  because  to  us 
unknown,  nor  that  ocean  without  shores  beyond 
which  washes  ours.  Then  there  are  continents  bor- 
dering the  deep,  and  islands  'studding  its  bosom  ;  nor 
are  these  barren  of  herbs,  nor  are  herbs  and  fruits 
given  in  vain  :  there,  too,  there  must  be  men,  who 
have  gods  like  us,  the  work  of  their  hands,  and 
sorrows  the  fruit  of  their  will.     Read  his  vaticination. 

"  Passato  il  fiume  Bagrade  ch'io  dico, 
Presso  a  lo  stretto  son  di  Gibilterra, 
Dove  pose  i  suoi  segni  il  Greco  antico 
Abila  e  Calpe,  a  dimostrar  ch'egli  erra 
Non  per  iscogli  o  per  vento  nimico, 
Ma  perche  il  globo  cola  de  la  terra 
Chi  va  piu  oltre,  e  non  trova  poi  fondo, 
Tanto  che  cade  giu  nel  basso  mondo. 


were  predicted  by  the  ancients,  e.  g.  Thales  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  Eparcus  of  Mycea,  in  the  second ;  Hellico 
of  Cyzycus,  and  Eudemus.  Anaxagoras  of  Clasomene  narrowly 
escaped  death  for  explaining  their  cause.  Among  the  Romans, 
Sulpicius  Gallus  predicted  an  eclipse  during  the  war  against 
Perseus  ;  and  Drusus,  by  doing  so,  quelled  an  insurrection  (Tacit. 
Annals.  I.  28).  Pythagoras  taught  publicly  that  the  earth  was  a 
sphere,  and  the  centre  of  the  universe  ;  but  he  communicated  to 
the  initiated  its  double  motion  round  its  axis  and  the  sun.  Cicero 
was  the  friend  of  the  man  who  calculated  the  exact  distance  of 
the  moon,  and  approached  to  that  of  the  sun. 


AN    ITALIAN    POET.  13 

"  Rinaldo  allor  riconosciuto  il  loco, 
Perche  altra  volta  Taveva  veduto, 
Dicea  con  Astarotte  :  dimmi  un  poco. 
A  quel  che  questo  segno  ha  proveduto  1 
Disse  Astarotte  :  un  error  lungo  e  fioco 
Per  molti  secol  non  ben  conosciuto, 
Fa  che  si  dice  d'Ercol  le  colonne, 
E  che  piu  la  molti  periti  sonne. 

"  Sappi  che  questa  opinione  e  vana  ; 
Perche  piu  oltre  navicar  si  puote 
Pero  che  Vacqua  in  ogni  parte  &  plana, 
Benche  la  terra  abbi  forma  di  mote  : 
Era  piu  grossa  allor  la  gente  umana  : 
Tal  che  potrebbe  arrossirne  le  gote 
Ercole  ancor  d'aver  posti  que  segni, 
Perchh  piu  oltre  passerano  i  legni. 

"  E  puossi  andar  qui  ne  Valtro  emisperio, 
Pero  che  al  centro  ogni  cosa  reprime ; 
Si  che  la  terra  per  divin  misterio 
Sospesa  sta  fra  le  stelle  sublime, 
E  la  giu  son  cittd,  castella  e  imperio, 
Ma  nol  cognobbon  quelle  genti  prime  : 
Vedi  che  il  sol  di  camminar  s^affretta, 
Dove  io  ti  dico  che  Id  giu  s'aspetta. 

"  E  come  un  segno  surge  in  oriente, 
Un  altro  cade  con  mirabil'  arte, 
Come  si  vede  qua  ne  l'occidente, 
Pero  che  il  ciel  giustamente  comparte ; 
Antipodi  appellata  e  quella  gente  ; 
Adora  il  sole  e  Juppiterra  e  Marte 
E  piante  e  animal  come  voi  hanno, 
E  spesso  insieme  gran  battaglie  fanno."* 

This  remarkable  passage  has  been  esteemed  a  pro- 

*  "  Morgante  Maggiore,"  Canto  xxv.  stanza  205-9. 


14  THE  TEMPLE 

gnostication  of  the  discovery  of  America ;  it  should 
rather  be  called  directions  to  find  it  out.* 

But  what  were  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  where 
are  we  to  look  for  them  %  Are  they  really  the  rocks 
which  frown  or  smile  across  the  Straits,  such  as  it  has 
pleased  the  imagination  of  poets  to  picture  them  % 
If  so,  then  might  the  fable  be  deemed  an  extravagance. 
As  Jacob  set  up  his  stone  at  Bethel,  and  called  it  the 
house  of  God  ;  f  as  Joshua  set  up  in  Jordan  pillars 
for  the  tribes  of  Israel,  so  did  Hercules  set  up  his 
altars,  when  he  had  reached  the  ocean.  Over  them 
in  subsequent  times  the  temple  which  bore  his  name 
was  raised,  but  there  was  no  image ;  \  none  of  the 
child-sacrifices  of  Baal ;  none  of  the  lascivousness  §  of 
Bgetica,  and  of  the  worship  of  Astaraoth.  They  worship- 
ped, indeed,  deities  unknown,  or  consecrated  thoughts, 
and  services  contemned  elsewhere.  Three  altars  were 
there  to  Art,  Old  Age,  and  Poverty.  From  a  Greek 
tourist,  who,  thaumaturgist  as  he  was,  comprehended 
very  little  of  what  he  saw,  I  quote  the  following  : — 

"In  this  temple,  two   Herculeses   are  worshipped 

*  The  proposition  of  Columbus  was,  "  Buscar  el  levante  por  el 
ponente."  To  find  the  east  by  the  west.  This  was  precisely  the 
mistake  made  by  the  Greeks,  who  had  gained  the  idea  of  the 
spherical  form  of  the  east  without  the  knowledge  of  its  dimen- 
sions. It  was,  in  fact,  the  repetition  of  the  words  of  Aristotle — 
— SwajTretv  tov,  nepl  ras  'HpaxXeious  arqXas,  tottov  ncpi  r<5  ri]v 
lv&ucfjp. 

t  In  the  Highlands  the  church  is  still  called  clachan,  or  the 
stones. 

J  "  Sed  nulla  effigies  simulacra ve  nota  deorum." —  Sil.  Ital. 
§  "  Castumque  cubile." — Id. 


OF   HERCULES.  15 

without  having  statues  erected  to  them.  The  Egyp- 
tian Hercules  has  two  brazen  altars  without  inscrip- 
tions, the  Theban  but  one.  Here  we  saw  engraved 
in  stone  the  Hydra,  and  Diomedes'  mares,  and  the 
twelve  labours  of  Hercules,  together  with  the  golden 
olive  of  Pygmalion,  wrought  with  exquisite  skill,  and 
placed  here  no  less  on  account  of  the  beauty  of  its 
branches,  than  on  that  of  its  fruit,  of  emeralds,  which 
appeared  as  if  real.  Besides  the  above,  the  golden 
belt  of  the  Telamonian  Teucer  was  shown  to  us  .  .  . 
The  Pillars  in  the  temple  were  composed  of  gold  and 
silver;  and  so  nicely  blended  were  the  metals  as  to 
form  but  one  colour.  They  were  more  than  a  cubit 
high,  of  a  quadrangular  form,  like  anvils,  whose  capitals 
were  inscribed  with  characters  neither  Egyptian,  nor 
Indian,  nor  such  as  could  be  deciphered.  These  Pillars 
are  the  chains  which  bind  together  the  earth  and 
sea.  The  inscriptions  on  them  were  executed  by 
Hercules  in  the  house  of  the  Parcae,  to  prevent 
discord  arising  among  the  elements,  and  that  friend- 
ship being  interrupted  which  they  have  for  each 
other."* 

There  was  no  Hercules,  but  the  Tyrian  worshipped 
here.  The  temple  was  Tyrian,  the  rites  were  Tyrian, 
and  the  Tyrians  did  not  borrow  from  the  Greeks. 
What  I  say  is  but  the  repetition  of  what  Appian, 
Arrian  f  and  others  have  said.    In  fact,  there  was  but 

*  Phil,  in  Apoll.  v.  5. 

t  Kcu  tw  tytuviicoiv  p6[m(o   oti   v€(os  ir*TroLr)Tai  t<o  'Hpaickcl  tg>  e*ei   tttft 
Bvcriai  Bvovto. — L.  2. 


16  CALPE   AND   ABYLA. 

one  Hercules.  The  writing  could  only  be  Phoenician. 
By  the  testimony  of  Greek  travellers,  the  pillars  were 
square  stones ;  and  the  tradition  of  their  being  the 
links  which  bind  together  the  earth  and  the  sea,  again 
connects  these  with  the  occasion  upon  which  they 
were  erected  :  they  were  both  in  Europe.* 

To  call  Oalpe  and  Abyla  "The  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules "  was  a  license,  and  might  be  a  poetic  one  ; 
but  to  assume  these  mountains  to  be  so  geographi- 
cally, was  to  withdraw  the  license  by  destroying 
the  poetry.  This  solecism  modern  philosophy  has 
adopted !  f 

Out  of  this  error  arose  the  dull  plagiarism  of  the 
Boeotian  Gharles,  who  gave  to  the  presumptuous  arms, 
in  which  those  of  the  Peninsula  were  quartered  with 
those  of  the  Empire,  two  Pillars  as  supporters,  which 
are  to  stand  for  the  traditional  altars  and  the  figu- 
rative hills.  The  motto  was  "  plus  ultra,"  taken  from 
"ne  plus  ultra,"  both  equally  meaningless  after  the 
discovery  of  America.     The  dropping  of  the  particle 

*  'Anro  'Hpa/cAeiW    arrjXwv   rav  ip   rfj    Eupa>7r#    ifXTropia   TroXKa, 

K.T.X. SCYLAX. 

Cadiz  has  still  retained  them  as  her  arms  : — 
u  The  Tyrian  islanders, 
On  whose  proud  ensigns  floating  to  the  wind, 
Alcides'  Pillars  towered." — The  Lusiad,  b.  iv. 
f  There  is  a  dispute  between  Mannert  and  Gosselin   about 
Hanno's  measurements,  because  they  will  not  take  his  point  of 
departure,  viz.  "  the  pillars  of  Hercules,"  but  will  take  mounts 
Abyla  and  Calpe.     Heeren,  as  usual,  interferes,  and  settles  the 
matter  thus  :  "  The  pillars  of  Hercules  did  not  so  much  mean 
Abyla  and  Calpe  as  the  whole  Straits  I " 


THE   PASSAGE   OF  THE   STRAITS.  17 

ne  announced  the  unlimited  ambition  of  his  nature, 
and  the  narrow  limits  of  his  mind  and  scholarship.* 

The  Two  Columns  are  still  often  heard  of  through- 
out the  Mediterranean,  and  sometimes  seen  in  the 
shape  of  the  dollar  of  Charles  V.,  which  is  superior  in 
value  to  those  of  his  successors,  and  is  known  by  the 
name  of  Colonato.  Strange  vicissitude !  The  Phoe- 
nician Melcarth's  votive  offering  become  a  money- 
changer's tale  !  The  story  is  now  ended,  and  the  circle 
complete.  Bright-eyed  poetry  —  strong-handed  enter- 
prise, have  descended  to  ambition  and  solecism,  vul- 
garity and  gain,  and  having  begun  with  virtue  idolized, 
we  end  with  gold  become  the  idol. 

I  have  been  speculating  on  the  influence  exercised 
by  this  passage  on  human  events :  the  physical  con- 
dition of  the  globe  offers  a  parallel  field. 

Let  us  suppose,  that  the  gap  had  been  just  wide 
enough  to  supply  the  water  lost  by  evaporation,  for 
which  the  thousandth  part  of  the  present  passage 
would  suffice : — the  Mediterranean  would  have  been 
a  salt-pan. 

The  yearly  deposit  would  have  been  an  inch,  the 
yearly  produce  80  millions  of  cart  loads,  or  50,000 
times  the  quantity  of  earth  displaced  in  constructing 
the  London  and  Birmingham  Railway.  Supposing 
then  this  evaporation  to  have  gone  on  since  the  deluge, 
the  result  would  be,  a  field  of  750,000  square  miles  of 

*  Bacon  has  adorned  his  first  edition  of  his  "  Novum  Organum" 
with  a  frontispiece,  where  a  vessel  is  seen  sailing  forth  between 
the  two  columns. 

VOL.  I.  C 


18  GEOLOGICAL   SPECULATION 

salt,  fifty  fathoms  thick — that  is,  the  Mediterranean 
would  be  a  tank  of  brine,  and  perhaps  we  should  have 
a  fresh- water  ocean  outside  in  lieu  of  a  salt  one.* 
This  has  been  prevented  by  the  straits  being  wide 
and  deep  enough  to  allow  an  admixture  of  the 
waters. 

In  all  other  geological  facts,  there  are  presented 
subordinate  effects  only.  You  may  reason  from  the 
completeness  of  the  whole,  and  the  adaptation  of  the 
parts  to  a  supreme  creating  Will.  But  this  adjust- 
ment of  the  forms  of  nature  to  the  use  of  man,  appears 
less  a  geological  incident  than  a  specimen  of  animal 
organization. 

Going  a  step  further,  let  us  suppose  the  ocean  shut 
out  altogether.f  What  sights  should  we  then  have 
seen  1  Since  the  Deluge  the  evaporation,  at  the  pre- 
sent rate,  would  have  reduced  by  this  time  the  level 
8,000  or  10,000  feet ;  but  in  proportion  as  it  sunk, 
and  the  shallow  borders  became  dry  land,  the  tempe- 

*  I  am  here  venturing  to  anticipate  a  future  conclusion  of 
science,  viz.  that  the  sea  is  salt  only  to  a  certain  depth. 

+  "  How  different  would  have  been  the  present  state  of  tem- 
perature, of  vegetation,  of  agriculture,  and  even  of  human  society, 
if  the  major  axes  of  the  old  and  new  continents  had  been  given 
the  same  direction  ;  if  the  chain  of  the  Andes,  instead  of  follow- 
ing a  meridian,  had  been  directed  from  east  to  west ;  if  no  heat- 
radiating  mass  of  tropical  land  extended  to  the  south  of  Europe  ; 
or  if  the  Mediterranean,  which  was  once  in  connection  both  with 
the  Caspian  and  Red  Sea,  and  which  has  so  powerfully  favoured 
the  social  establishment  of  nations,  were  not  in  existence  ;  that 
is  to  say,  if  its  bed  had  been  raised  to  the  level  of  the  plains  of 
Lombardy  and  of  the  ancient  Cyrene." — Cosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  205. 


ON   THE    STRAITS. 


19 


rature  would  rise,  and  the  moisture  of  the  atmo- 
sphere diminish.  The  evaporation  would  be  more 
and  more  rapid,  and  the  surface  of  the  Mediterranean 
might  have  sunk  as  far  beneath  its  present  level  as 
Mont  Blanc  soars  above  it.* 

It  is  singular  that  the  Tartarus  of  Yirgil  and  Dante 
is  cast  in  this  very  region ;  but  it  would  then  have 
been  no  fabled  terrors :  natural  objects  would  have 
outstripped  their  fancies.  The  breath  of  this  furnace 
would  not  have  been  pent  up  in  its  caverns,  but  have 
spread  its  blight  over  the  finest  regions  of  Africa, 
Europe,  and  Asia,  blasting  in  their  bud  the  glories  of 
the  Capitol,  the  eloquence  of  the  Bema,  the  sculptures 
of  the  Parthenon,  the  trophies  of  the  Memnonium,  the 
enterprise  of  Tyre,  and  the  wealth  of  Carthage ;  and 
these  fair  and  fertile  shores  would  have  been  a  wilder- 
ness, overhanging  an  abyss  of  death.  The  Chinese,  the 
Hindoo,  or,  perchance,  the  Seminole  philosopher,  would 
have  been  journeying  here  to  visit  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  laid  open  to  the  sun. 

What  observations  and  experiments  to  make  on  the 
converse  phenomena  to  ours — on  the  increase  of  in- 
tensity of  heat  and  pressure  on  the  powers  of  men  or 
animals !  What  speculations  on  the  old  orders  of  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  under  new  conditions ! 
What  new  ones  called  into  existence !  What  mag- 
netic and  electric  phenomena  to  reward  the  Empedocles 

*  "  The  levels  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  and  the  Dead  Sea  are 
respectively  666  and  1,311  English  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
Mediterranean." — Cosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  288. 

c  2 


20         GEOLOGICAL  SPECULATION. 

who  ventured  into  this  crater  of  4,000  miles  circum- 
ference! Imagine  Lebanon  or  Etna  rising  30,000  or 
60,000  feet,  and  Cyprus,  a  plateau,  suspended  a  mile 
and  a  half  above  the  plain  of  burning  salt  or  boiling 
brine  !  What  treasures  for  the  historian — the  exuviae 
of  animals  and  men — the  refuse  of  centuries  washed 
down  by  the  streams — the  dead  of  extinguished  races 
buoyed  up  and  floating  through  each  other  in  the 
brine,  or  caught  and  cured  in  the  salt  as  the  mam- 
moth in  the  ice  !  The  geologist  would  then  have  en- 
joyed the  sight  of  strata  unmodified  by  a  retiring 
deluge,  and  feasted  his  eyes  on  the  reality  of  chaos, 
and  an  earth  fitted  for  salamanders,  megalosauri,  chei- 
rotheria,  and  mastodons.  The  Simoon  would  have 
extended  its  empire  from  the  Zahara  to  the  plains 
of  Languedoc,  and,  cherished  by  his  breath,  the  locust 
would  have  asserted  her  sway  up  to  the  English  sea. 
Such,  horrid  and  inane,  must  have  been  the  "sweet 
south,"  had  not  this  channel  been  dug,  and  this 
purple  sea  poured  in — reflecting  the  heavens  above, 
• — dispensing  around  moisture  to  the  fields,  health 
to  the  people, — yielding  its  body  to  their  keels,  its 
breezes  to  their  sails.  For  this  were  these  portals 
opened,  which  man  so  long  has  deemed  a  mystery 
denying  his  scrutiny,  and  a  barrier  defying  his  ad- 
venture. 


THE   MEDITERRANEAN.  21 


CHAPTER   II. 
THE   CURRENTS    OF  THE   STRAITS. 

The  Mediterranean  is  like  a  bag  with  two  necks 
filling  at  both  ends.  The  current  through  the  Dar- 
danelles presents  exciting  varieties,  but  no  perplexing 
mysteries.  It  is  the  discharge  of  the  surplus  of  the 
Black  Sea,  and  the  current  is  subject  to  the  influences 
of  the  northerly  and  southerly  winds  ;  being  reversed 
when  the  latter  long  prevails.  At  Gibraltar  all  is 
disorder  —  the  stream  incessant  —  the  level  on  both 
sides  the  same.  The  tide  rises  and  falls,  yet  the 
current  always  runs  out  of  the  ocean  and  into  the 
Mediterranean.  So  determined  is  this  rush,  that  the 
gales  of  the  Equinox  neither  quicken  nor  retard  it, 
and  the  phases  of  the  moon  have  no  power  over  it. 
It  bursts  through  all  obstacles  and  transgresses  all 
laws,  and  seems  to  move  by  a  will  of  its  own — too 
strong  to  be  disturbed,  too  deep  to  be  discovered. 
During  my  excursions  I  was  engaged  in  examining 
these  phenomena,  and  I  will  commence  with  stating 
the  results  of  several  months'  cogitation  and  inquiries. 

I  first  applied  myself  to  test  the  old  explanation 
of  an  under-current,  by  endeavouring  to    float  sub- 


22  THEORY   OF 

stances  at  various  levels,  and  after  great  trouble  in 
procuring  lines,  and  having  machines  of  various  kinds 
made,  I  found  that  without  a  frigate's  tackle  and 
crew  no  results  could  be  obtained.  I  was  thus  re- 
duced to  mere  scrutiny  of  the  alleged  facts,  and  of 
the  alleged  theory.  The  facts  amount  to  this  :  a 
vessel,  in  1 754,  *  was  fired  into  from  the  battery, 
it  sank  in  face  of  the  rock,  and  was  afterwards  cast 
up  in  the  bay  of  Tangier. 

A  vessel,  when  it  sinks,  goes  to  the  bottom,  and 
if  fragments  of  it  are  detached  and  are  cast  ashore, 
it  is  only  because  they  float,  that  is,  they  rise  to 
the  surface.  This  story  will  not,  therefore,  serve  the 
theory,  even  if  authentic.  There  is  nothing  to  pre- 
vent a  ship  or  timber  from  floating  out ;  for  close 
in  shore,  on  both  sides,  the  tides  of  the  ocean  rise 
within  the  Straits  to  the  height  of  four  feet :  of 
these,  boats  take  advantage  to  get  through  against 
both  wind  and  current.  Sometimes,  indeed,  though 
it  very  rarely  happens,  the  whole  current  is  reversed ; 
and  vessels  working  during  the  night,  and  reckon- 
ing on  being  carried  fifty  miles  to  the  eastward,  have 
found  themselves  in  the  morning  ninety  miles  to  the 
westward  of  the  point  where  they  expected  to  be, 
that  is  to  say,  carried  forty  miles  over  the  ground 
to  the  westward  during  the  night,  f 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  only,  but  incessantly 
quoted   fact,   I  proceed   to  the   theory.      Reasoning, 

*  See  James's  History  of  Gibraltar, 
f   This  happened  to  the  Phantome. 


AN  UNDERCURRENT.  23 

however,  there  is  none,  for  it  amounts  to  nothing 
more  than  this  :  "What  becomes  of  all  this  water? 
It  cannot  go  to  the  Black  Sea,  from  which  the  Medi- 
terranean receives  water ;  it  cannot  escape  by  a  sub- 
terranean passage  into  the  Red  Sea,  for  the  level 
of  the  Red  Sea  is  higher  by  thirty  feet.  Then  there 
is  an  under-current  discharging  the  water  back  again 
into  the  ocean." 

Water  moves  by  its  weight.  Unless  there  is  dif- 
ference of  level,  there  is  no  motion.  The  resistance 
is  from  the  bottom  according  to  its  roughness,  and 
the  vis  inertice  is  felt  at  the  top — thus  the  greatest 
speed  is  at  about  two-thirds  of  the  depth ;  here  there 
is  no  difference  of  level,  nor  is  the  water  acted  on 
superficially  by  any  propelling  power.  There  is  no 
prevalence  of  winds  to  account  for  a  current  at  the 
surface.  So  great  is  the  momentum  of  the  stream, 
that,  unlike  the  currents  of  the  Dardanelles,  it  is 
neither  accelerated  by  favourable  winds,  nor  even 
retarded  by  adverse  storms.  The  idea  of  an  over- 
current  running  against  an  under-current  is  so  op- 
posed to  all  experience,  that  to  be  admissible,  proofs 
would  be  required,  and  it  could  never  be  received 
as  an  hypothesis  to  account  for  an  unexplained 
phenomenon. 

Thus,  the  theoretical  explanations  utterly  fail ;  yet 
there  is  action  without  agent,  momentum  without 
motor,  currents  without  winds  or  declivity,  and  a 
vessel  constantly  filling  without  escape  or  overflow. 
A   mighty  river  rushes  over  its  bed ;  but   this  river 


24  SOLUTION   OF  THE   PROBLEM. 

is  not  moved  by  its  weight ;  it  runs  on  a  dead  level* 
to  the  sea  it  reaches  from  the  fountain  whence  it 
springs. — That  fountain  is  the  ocean  itself!  No  won- 
der that  this  should  be  the  first  of  ancient  mysteries, 
and  the  last  to  be  explained. 

Before  I  had  discarded  the  idea  of  an  under-current, 
or  had  discovered  the  insufficiency  of  the  evaporation 
to  account  for  the  indraught,  I  was  sitting  on  Partridge 
Island,  (a  small  rock  within  the  Straits,)  and  gazing 
with  astonishment  at  the  enormous  mass  of  water 
running  by  me,  when  the  question  occurred  to  me, 
what  becomes  of  the  salt?  If  the  water  evaporate, 
the  salt  remains ;  here  then  is  the  sluice  of  a  mighty 
salt-pan — where  is  the  produce  \  This  has  been  going 
on  for  thousands  of  years  ;  is  there  a  deposit  of  salt 
at  the  bottom  I  If  so,  why  have  the  abysses  of  the 
Mediterranean  not  been  filled  up?  But  salt  is  not 
deposited  ;  how  then  is  the  Mediterranean  not  become 
brine  1  Then  I  saw  that  the  evaporation  would  not 
account  for  the  indraught,  and  before  I  descended 
from  that  rock,  I  had  solved  the  problem.  That  solu- 
tion is — an  under-current  produced  by  a  difference  of 
specific  gravity  between  the  water  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  the  ocean. 

If  you  take  two  vessels,  and  fill  one  with  fresh 
water,  and  the  other  with  salt,  or  the  one  with  sea- 

*  The  excellent  geodesic  operations  of  Coraboeuf  and  Deleros 
have  shown,  that  at  the  two  extremities  of  the  Pyrenaean  chain, 
as  well  as  at  Marseilles  and  the  northern  coast  of  Holland,  there 
is  no  sensible  difference  between  the  level  of  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Mediterranean. — Cosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  297. 


HUMBOLDT   ON   CURRENTS.  25 

water  at  its  ordinary  charge  of  1030,  and  the  other 
with  sea-water  of  higher  specific  gravity,  such  as 
would  result  from  evaporating  a  portion  of  it,  say 
1100,  and  colour  differently  the  water  in  the  two 
vessels,  and  then  raise  a  sluice  between  them,  you  will 
instantly  have  two  currents  established  in  opposite 
directions.  In  fact,  you  produce  currents  of  water, 
like  currents  of  wind,  by  the  converse  of  rarefaction. 

"  Recent  discoveries,"  says  Humboldt,  "  have  shown 
that  the  ocean  has  its  currents  exactly  as  the  air. 
Living,  as  we  do,  upon  the  surface,  they  have  been 
beyond  our  reach ;  but  now,  having  obtained  soundings 
to  the  depth  of  four  miles,  we  have  ascertained  that 
there  is  a  rush  of  icy  water  from  the  Pole  to  the  Equa- 
tor, just  as  there  is  a  draft  of  air  close  to  the  earth 
into  the  centre  of  Africa.  The  Mediterranean  offers 
an  apparent  anomaly  of  a  higher  temperature  at  great 
depths.  This  Arago  explains  by  the  fact,  f  That  the 
surface  of  the  water  flows  in  as  a  Westerly  current, 
whilst  a  counter  current  prevails  beneath,  and  prevents 
the  influx  from  the  ocean  of  the  cold  current  from  the 
Pole/*  If  there  was  nothing  to  determine  the  cur- 
rents at  the  entrance  of  the  Mediterranean,  save 
the  relative  degrees  of  cold  at  great  depths  between 
it  and  the  ocean,  the  cold  water  would  run  in  at 
the  lowest  depths,  and  the  warm  water  would  run 
out  on  the  surface,  which  is  precisely  the  reverse  of 
what  it  does. 

Here  is  a  body  of  water  740,000  square  miles  in 
*  Cosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  296. 


26  THE  WATER   IN 

extent,  subject  hourly  to  the  increase  of  its  specific 
gravity.     Upon  the  surface,  a  crust  of  salt  is  left  in 
the  course  of  every  year,  sufficient  to  give  a   double 
charge  to  the  depth  of  six  fathoms.     To  adjust  the 
difference  thus  created  with  the  ocean,  there  is  but  a 
narrow  inlet, — a  mere  crack  upon  the  side  of  the  ves- 
sel, an  interval  of  six  miles  left  in  a  circumference  of 
four  thousand.     By  this,  in  its  deepest  part,  the  heavier 
water  will  have  to  find  its  way  out,  and  thus  occasion 
an   indraught   of  water   above,    besides   the   demand 
created  by  evaporation.     It  remains  to  be  ascertained 
by  experiment,  that  the  specific  gravity  of  the  water 
in  the  Straits  varies  at  different  levels,  and  at  what 
level  it  commences  to  move  outwards.     These  experi- 
ments will  present  great  practical  difficulties  from  the 
tides  at  the  sides,  which  will  mingle  the  streams  ;  and, 
from  the  shallowness  towards  the  ocean,  they  must  be 
made  in  the  middle  and  at  the  Mediterranean  side. 
The  evaporation,  and  the  differences  of  specific  gravity, 
will  give  the  means  of  calculating  the  amount  of  water 
passing  through  in  both  directions,  and  the  depth  and 
velocity  of  the  two  currents.    But  it  may  be  inferred 
that  the  currents  will  have  the  greatest  speed  at  the 
top  and  the  bottom, — that  their  velocity  will  diminish 
towards  the  centre,  and  that  a  neutral  space  of  dead 
water  will  remain,  not  only  in    consequence   of  the 
counter-impetus  of  the  currents,  but  because  of  the 
nearer  approach  of  specific  gravity,  and  the  mingling 
of  the  two  waters,  which  would  destroy  the  moving 
power. 


THE   STRAITS.  27 

With  this  solution  we  can  at  once  understand  the 
powerlessness  of  tides  and  storms,  currents  without 
difference  of  level,  or  prevalence  of  winds  :  the  volume 
of  the  stream  is  accounted  for,  the  mass  of  salt  dis- 
posed of,  and  the  apparent  rebellion  against  the  laws 
of  Nature  put  down. 

By  tables  kept  for  several  years  at  Malta,  it  appears 
that  the  Mediterranean,  at  that  point,  varies  in  level 
between  winter  and  summer  no  less  than  three  feet. 
In  winter,  when  there  is  no  evaporation,  and  when 
the  quantity  of  water  falling  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  Mediterranean  is  greatest,  the  level  is  lowest. 
The  cause,  I  should  take  to  be  the  pressure  of  wintry 
wind.  In  like  manner,  those  erratic  movements  in 
the  Straits  may  result  from  difference  of  atmospheric 
pressure  without  and  within. 

These  currents,  by  the  testimony  of  the  ancients, 
have  not  held  from  the  beginning — they  have  been 
the  results  of  successive  modifications  of  the  channel. 
This  is  singularly  borne  out  by  the  traditions  of  the 
neighbouring  people  and  the  geological  features  of  the 
coast.  v 

Eldressi  narrates,  as  an  old  and  popular  story  of 
his  day,  that  "  the  Sea  of  Cham  (Mediterranean)  was 
in  ancient  times  a  lake  surrounded  on  all  sides,  like 
the  Sea  of  Tabaristan  (Caspian),  the  waters  of  which 
have  no  communication  with  any  other  seas.  So 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  extreme  west  invaded 
the  people  of  Andalusia,  doing  them  much  injury, 
which  they,  in  like  manner,  did  to  the  others,  living 


28  THE   FABLE   OF  ALEXANDER. 

always  in  war,  until  the  time  of  Alexander,*  who 
consulted  his  wise  men  and  artificers  about  cutting 
that  arid  isthmus  and  opening  a  canal.  Thereupon 
they  measured  the  earth,  and  the  depth  of  the  two  seas, 
and  saw  that  the  Sea  of  Cham  was  not  much  lower 
than  the  Sea  Muhit,  (Ocean)  ;  so  they  raised  the  towns 
that  were  on  the  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Cham,  changing 
them  to  the  high  ground.  Then  he  ordered  the  earth 
to  be  dug  out ;  and  they  dug  it  away  to  the  bottom 
of  the  mountains  on  both  sides  ;  and  he  built  there 
two  terraces  with  stones  and  lime  the  whole  length 
between  the  two  seas,  which  was  twelve  miles  ;  one 
on  the  side  of  Tankhe  (Tangier),  and  one  on  the  side 
of  Andeluz.     When  this   was   done,   he   caused   the 


*  In  eastern  tradition  there  are  two  Alexanders :  the  first  is 
Dualkernein,  whom  the  Bretons  claim  as  their  leader  from  the 
Holy  Land,  and  the.  opponent  of  Joshua.  According  to  the 
authorities  cited  in  Price's  Arabia  (p.  54),  the  first  Alexander 
was  also  a  Macedonian,  and  built  a  city  in  Egypt,  on  the  site 
of  the  city  afterwards  raised  by  the  Macedonian.  The  ram- 
parts of  brass  at  the  Caspian  gate  were  attributed  to  both 
Alexanders — they  are  by  the  Koran  given  to  the  first.  (Sale's 
Koran,  ch.  xvii.  p.  120;  Merkhond's  Early  Kings  of  Persia, 
p.  368).  Al  Makkari  says,  the  same  Alexander  built  towns  of 
brass  in  the  Canary  Islands.  Macarius,  patriarch  of  Antioch, 
speaks  of  the  Dardanelles  being  opened  by  Alexander,  and  that 
he  placed  his  own  statue  on  the  top  of  one  of  the  hills  (Travels, 
vol.  i.  p.  33 — 40).  Thus  confounding  together  the  deluge  of 
Ogyges — the  cutting  the  canal  of  Athos — the  opening  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar.  Alexander  seems  to  have  adopted  the  title  of  the 
two  former  to  favour  the  analogy  (see  Merkhnd,  334;  Price,  49  ; 
Temple  of  Jerusalem,  p.  119).  Alexander  Dualkernein,  is  still  a 
hero  of  the  Spanish  nurseries. 


THE  MYTH   OF  THE   MIDGES.  29 

mound  to  be  broken,  and  the  water  rushed  in  from 
the  great  sea  with  violence,  raising  the  waters  of  the 
Sea  of  Cham,  so  that  many  cities  perished,  and  their 
inhabitants  were  drowned,  and  the  waters  rose  above 
the  dykes,  and  carried  them  away,  and  did  not  rest 
until  they  had  reached  the  mountains  on  both  sides/' 

The  Moors  have  also  a  Myth.  "  The  sea,"  they  say, 
"  was  created  fresh,  but  exalting  itself  against  its 
Maker,  gnats  were  sent  to  drink  it  up.  It  then  hum- 
bled itself  in  the  stomach  of  the  gnats,  and  prayed  to 
be  relieved,  so  the  gnats  were  ordered  to  vomit  it 
forth  again,  but  the  salt  remained  from  the  stomach 
of  the  gnats  an  eternal  sign  of  its  disobedience." 

Before  suggesting  the  interpretation  of  these  Myths, 
I  will  point  out  the  change  which  the  coasts  and 
channel  have  undergone. 

The  description  of  the  Straits  by  Greek  and  Roman 
writers  is  so  unlike  their  present  appearance,  that,  but 
for  the  impossibility  of  doubting  the  identity  of  the 
objects,  we  must  have  supposed  their  words  to  apply 
to  some  undiscovered  region.  Who  could  recognize 
the  deep  sea  and  the  iron-bound  coasts  of  these  nar- 
rows, in  a  plain  of  sand  furrowed  by  rivers  running 
in  from  the  ocean,  which  it  was  difficult  to  reach,  not 
from  the  strength  of  the  stream,  but  the  intricacies 
of  the  passage — who  would  imagine  the  necessity  of 
constructing  flat-bottomed  boats  to  get  across  from 
Gibraltar  to  Ceuta,  where  now  there  is  above  one 
thousand  fathoms,  or  of  transferring  the  ferry  to  the 
Atlantic  side  of  the  Straits,  where  at  present  the  depth 


30-  THE   MEDITERRANEAN 

is  not  one-sixth  of  what  it  is  in  the  other,  in  order 
to  get  more  water  ?  Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  these 
details  apply  to  these  spots,  nor  can  we  question  the 
known  accuracy  of  the  writers,  or  escape  from  the 
concurrence  of  their  testimony.  We  are  reduced,  then, 
to  the  necessity  of  admitting  some  great  revolution  in 
the  features  of  the  country,  and  a  total  change  in  the 
nature  of  the  current. 

The  explanation  is  easy  :  the  bank  of  sand,  left  by 
the  retiring  waters  of  the  Deluge,  which  covers  the 
western  border  of  Africa,  reached  to  the  coast  of 
Andalusia,  and  the  remnants  of  it  still  lie  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Gibraltar,  and  fill  the  caverns  exposed 
to  that  side  ;  on  the  depression  of  the  Mediterranean 
by  evaporation,  the  water  of  the  ocean  would  filter  in, 
the  sand  would  be  gradually  removed.  The  amount  of 
sand  on  the  Mediterranean  side  of  the  "  Rock,"  shows 
that  a  plain  nearly  one  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  once  stretched  across  to  Africa,  where  now 
the  channel  is  one  thousand  fathoms  deep.  This  has 
been  worked  out  by  the  overfall,  while  on  the  Atlantic 
side  the  water  shoals  to  one  hundred  and  eighty 
fathoms,  presenting  the  character  of  an  estuary  with 
a  bar  from  the  rush  outward  of  the  under  waters, 
since  the  Gut  was  sufficiently  deepened  to  admit  of  the 
currents  in  opposite  directions.  The  centre  part  of  the 
channel  is  worn  down  to  the  rock  or  to  gravel,  every 
particle  of  sand  has  been  removed  from  the  bottom. 
Two  inferences  may  be  drawn  :  1st.  That  the  process 
of  removal  was  likely  to  be  accompanied  by  sudden 


IN   EARLY   AGES.  31 

inbursts,  which  would  submerge  the  borders.  2nd. 
That  the  Mediterranean,  in  early  ages,  was  fresh,  and 
afterwards  became,  as  it  evaporated,  very  salt,  until  the 
channel  was  deepened  to  allow  of  its  mixing  with 
the  ocean.  What  else  is-  implied  by  the  Myth  of  the 
midges  and  the  fable  of  Alexander  ? 


32  GIBRALTAR. 


CHAPTER  III. 


GIBRALTAR    OF    THE   MOORS. 


There  is  no  place  of  which  it  is  more  difficult  to 
form  an  idea  without  seeing  it,  than  Gibraltar.  One 
naturally  expects  to  find  a  fortress  closing  the  Medi- 
terranean with  its  celebrated  galleries  and  enormous 
guns  facing  the  Straits.    It  is  nothing  of  the  kind. 

The  Straits  are,  at  the  narrowest  part,  seven  miles 
and  a  quarter  wide ;  but  that  part  is  fifteen  miles 
from  Gibraltar.  It  is  only  after  you  have  passed  the 
Narrows  that  you  see  the  "  Rock  "  away  to  the  left. 
Ceuta,  in  like  manner,  recedes  to  the  right;  the 
width  being  here  twelve  miles.  The  current  runs  in 
the  centre,  sweeping  vessels  along,  and  instead  of 
being  exposed  to  inconvenience  from  either  fortress, 
they  would  generally  find  it  difficult  to  get  under 
their  guns.  The  batteries  and  galleries  face  Spain, 
and  look  landward,  not  seaward.  Whatever  its  value 
in  other  respects,  it  is  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  it  commands  the  Straits,  or  has  ever  had  a 
gun  mounted  for  that  purpose. 

Gibraltar  is  a  tongue  three  miles  long  and  one 
broad,  running  out  into  the  sea.,  pointing  to  Africa, 


THE   ROCK.  33 

and  joined  to  Spain  at  the  northern  extremity  by 
a  low  isthmus  of  sand  :  it  presents  an  almost  per- 
pendicular face  to  the  Spanish  coast.  Seen  from 
the  n  Queen  of  Spain's  Chair,"  it  resembles  a  lion 
couching  on  the  point,  its  head  towards  Spain,  its 
tail  towards  Africa,  as  if  it  had  cleared  the  Straits 
at  a  spring.  Geologically  speaking,  it  belongs  to 
the  African  hills,  which  are  limestone,  and  not  to 
those  of  the  opposite  Spanish  coast,  which  are  crys- 
talline. Mount  Abyla  is  called  by  the  Moors  after 
Muza,  who  planned  the  expedition,  and  Calpe  is  now 
named  after  Tarif,  the  leader  who  conducted  it. 
Seen  from  the  mountains  above  Algesiras,  the  rock 
resembles  a  man  lying  on  his  back  with  his  head  on 
one  side.  The  resemblance  of  Mount  Athos  to  a 
man  I  have  made  out  in   a  similar  manner. 

The  side  towards  the  Mediterranean  is  now  made 
inaccessible  by  scarping,  but  it  was  nearly  so  before. 
Towards  the  point  at  the  south,  the  rock  lowers  and 
breaks  down  till,  on  the  Bay  side,  it  shelves  into  the 
sea ;  thence  along  the  Bay,  which  in  its  natural 
state  was  an  open  beach  of  sand,  gently  sloping  up 
until  shouldered  by  the  steep  sides  or  precipices  of 
the  Rock.  This  level  ground  affords  the  site  for  the 
present  town.  The  southern  and  larger  portion  has 
been  converted  into  the  beautiful  pleasure-ground 
called  the  Almeida,  or  is  occupied  by  barracks  and 
private  residences.  Half  of  this  bristling  tongue  was 
formed  unapproachable, — man  has  fenced  in  the  other. 
This  sea-wall  from  end   to  end  is  the  work   of  the 

VOL.  i.  d 


34  FORTIFICATIONS   OF 

Moors.  Antiquarians  have  endeavoured  to  find  here 
Roman  and  Phoenician  remains.  I  should  just  as 
soon  expect  to  find  a  Roman  fortress  at  John  O'Groat's, 
or  a  Phoenician  emporium  on  Salisbury  Plain.  It  was 
reserved  for  a  shrewder  people  than  Carthaginians,  Ro- 
mans, Greeks,  or  Goths,  to  discover  Gibraltar's  worth. 

There  are  three  elevations  on  the  ridge,  one  in  the 
centre,  and  one  at  each  extremity.  That  in  the 
centre  is  the  highest ;  and  here  is  the  signal  station, 
from  which  works  are  carried  straight  down  to  the 
beach  at  the  ragged  staff.  The  upper  part  of  the 
Rock  is  like  a  roof,  and  down  it,  like  forked  lightning, 
runs  a  zig-zag  wall.  Below  this  stony  thatching 
there  is  a  story  or  two  of  precipices  ;  the  line  of 
defence  drops  over  them  and  on  the  works,  which 
shut  in  the  town  on  the  south,  and  which  consist 
of  a  curtain-bastion  and  ditch.  In  the  rear  of  this 
wall  (the  zig-zag)  there  are  the  remains  of  a  still 
more  ancient  one.  A  great  amount  of  labour  has 
been  expended  upon  this  almost  inaccessible  height. 
These  zig-zag,  or  flanking  lines,  are  naturally  as- 
sumed to  be  modern,  and  the  wall  goes  by  the  name 
of  Charles  V.,  who  restored  the  fortification  below ; 
but  the  loop-holes  are  for  cross-bows.  The  diagonal 
steps  at  the  landing-places,  the  materials  and  the 
coating,  as  well  as  the  whole  aspect,  show  them  to 
be  Moorish.  Heterodox  as  this  opinion  was  held 
when  I  first  broached  it,  it  was  not  impugned  after 
two  inspections  by  the  officers  best  qualified  to  pro- 
nounce on  such  a  matter. 


GIBRALTAR.  35 

On  the  north,  too,  all  our  defences  are  restorations 
of  the  Moorish  works  :  even  in  the  galleries  they  have 
been  our  forerunners.  Their  open  works  were  in  ad- 
vance of  ours,  and  a  staircase  is  cut  out  through  the 
Rock  down  to  the  beach.  In  fact,  save  in  what  is 
requisite  for  the  application  of  gunpowder,  or  what 
is  superfluous  for  defence,  the  Moors  had  rendered 
Gibraltar  what  it  is  to-day.  They  have  even  left 
us  structures  of  the  greatest  service,  as  resisting  the 
effects  of  gunpowder,  and  such  as  we  are  able  neither 
to  rival  nor  to  imitate.  On  the  great  lines,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  many  changes  which  have  taken  place, 
the  original  work  has  been  displaced,  or  covered  up, 
and  especially  so  along  the  sea-wall  ;  but,  ascend 
to  the  signal-post, — crawl  out  on  the  face  of  the 
Rock  to  the  north, — examine  even  yet  Europa  Point 
— Rozier  Bay,  and  everywhere  you  find  the  Moor. 

It  is  impossible  to  move  about  at  Gibraltar,  without 
having  the  old  tower  in  sight,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
take  one's  eyes  off  it  when  it  is  so.  No  aspiring  lines, 
no  graceful  sweeps,  no  columned  terraces  exert  their 
fascination,  nor  is  it  ruin  and  dilapidation  that  speak 
to  the  heart.  The  building  is  plain  in  its  aspect, 
mathematical  in  its  forms,  clean  in  its  outlines,  with 
a  sturdy  and  stubborn  middle-aged  air,  without  a 
shade  of  fancy  or  of  wildness.  Nevertheless,  the  eye 
is  drawn  to  it,  and  then  your  thoughts  are  fixed  on 
it — and  they  are  so,  precisely  because  you  cannot  tell 
why. 

It  constitutes  the  apex   of  a   triangular  fort,   and 

D  2 


36  THE   OLD   TOWER. 

massy  and  lofty  itself,  it  thus  assumes  a  station  of 
dignity  and  command.  The  annals  of  time  are  traced 
on  it — here  by  the  arrow-head  still  sticking, *  there  by 
the  hollow  of  the  shot  and  shell.  It  has  borne  the 
brunt  of  a  score  of  sieges,  and  stands  to-day  without  a 
single  repair.  On  its  summit,  seventy  feet  from  the 
ground,  guns  are  planted.  The  terrace  on  the  roof 
is  cracked,  but  the  surface  is  otherwise  as  smooth  as 
if  just  finished.  The  pottery-pipes  fitted  in  to  carry 
away  the  water,  are  precisely  such  as  might  have  been 
shipped  from  London.  A  semicircular  arch  supports 
a  gallery  on  the  inner  side.  A  window  opening  in 
this  gallery,  now  blocked  up,  is  like  a  church  window 
with  the  Gothic  arch  chamfered.  The  exterior  was 
plastered  in  fine  lime,  and  there  are  traces  of  its 
having  been  divided  off  into  figures.  It  has  now,  by 
the  barbarians  in  possession,  been  rubbed  over  with 
dirty  brown  to  make  it  look  ancient  The  turrets  on 
the  walls  below  have  been  furbished  up  to  look  like 
cruet-stands,  and  the  staring  face  of  a  clockf  is  stuck 
in  a  Saracen  tower. 

The  upper  story  only  is  explored  and  open  ;  the 
flooring  is  perfectly  smooth,  and  the  roof  stuccoed. 
There  is  a  bath-room,  and  a  mosque ;  the  former  has  a 
figured  aperture  slanting  through  ten  or  twelve  feet 
of  wall  to  admit  the  light,  as  in  the  domes  of  Eastern 
baths.    The  other  parts  of  the  building  are  as  much 

*  The  last  one  disappeared  while  I  was  at  Gibraltar. 
t  This  Vandalism  was  gazetted,  and  the  turret  termed  "  Stanley 
Tower." 


THE   MOORISH   FORT.  37 

unknown  as  those  of  the  unopened  Pyramids.  If 
these  ruins  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  tribe 
that  live  on  the  rock  above,  there  would  have  been 
exhibited  at  least  as  much  taste,  and  certainly  more 
curiosity. 

The  standing  walls  adjoining  the  towers  exhibit 
faces  of  arches  that  covered  in  halls  and  surrounded 
courts.  The  second  portion  of  the  fort  is  at  present 
used  as  a  prison.  The  lower  enclosure  is  of  greater 
extent,  and  in  the  line  of  the  wall  is  a  remarkable 
Egyptian-looking  building,  square  with  buttresses  at 
the  angles  and  a  pyramidal  roof — roof  and  walls  one 
mass  of  Moorish  concrete  (Tapia).  It  is  as  perfect 
as  it  was  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  may  be  equally 
so  a  thousand  years  hence.  It  is  at  present  used  as 
a  powder-magazine,  and  is  divided  into  two  stories. 
The  flooring  of  the  upper  hall  is  supported  in  the 
middle  by  a  block  of  masonry  some  fifty  feet  square. 
This  apartment  is  curiously  ventilated. 

This  Moorish  fort  is,  as  a  whole,  a  building  of 
great  interest.  An  architect  of  the  last  century  speaks 
of  it  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  on  the  soil  of 
Europe.  It  was  no  embellishment  of,  or  defence  for 
a  capital ;  it  was  raised  in  time  of  trouble  on  a 
remote  promontory  as  a  protection  for  insurgents.  It 
was  antecedent  to  art  in  Europe, — the  people  who 
raised  it  did  not  imitate  Rome ;  they  must  have 
brought  this  art  with  them.  It  stands  a  match  for 
man  and  time,  defying  at  once  the  inventions  of  the 
one  and  the  ravages  of  the  other. 


38       THE  MOORISH  FORT  AND  TOWER. 

Here  is  an  original  in  design  and  substance,  a 
work  surpassing  those  of  the  Romans  in  strength,  and 
equalling  those  of  the  Egyptians  in  durability. 

As  the  zig-zag  lines  have  been  attributed  to  the 
Spaniards,  so  on  high  authority  is  a  much  more  re- 
cent date  *  than  that  which  I  here  assign  to  them 
given  to  the  Moorish  fort  and  tower ;  but  supposing 
them  to  be  of  no  earlier  date  than  the  fourteenth 
century,  they  would  still  illustrate  a  style  of  archi- 
tecture which  the  Moors  introduced,  and  which,  like 
language,  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity. 

They  are  now  busy  in  demolishing  the  works  that 
connected  the  Moorish  fort  with  the  harbour.  Whilst 
tracing  the  old  wall  from  the  former  to  the  latter, 
I  came  upon  a  large  arch,  and  satisfied  myself  that 
this  had  been  an  entrance  to  an  inner  harbour.  On 
subsequent  reference  to  James's  History  of  Gibraltar, 
I  find  that  this  was  well  known  in  his  time. 

During  these  researches,  in  which  I  spent  a  month, 
I  had  not  the  aid  that  is  generally  obtained  from  the 
observations   of  others.     I   often   attempted   to   look 

*  Afterwards,  at  Madrid,  Don  P.  Gayangos  referred  me  to  Ibn 
Batuta  as  fixing  the  date  in  the  fourteenth  century.  On  consult- 
ing that  traveller,  I  find  that  he  spoke  of  repairs  under  Abn  El 
Haran,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  Fez  in  1330.  .  An  inscrip- 
tion which  existed  in  the  last  century,  and  of  which  a  fac-simile 
is  given  in  Col.  James's  History  of  Gibraltar,  seems  to  fix  the  date 
at  A.D.  750.  The  following  is  the  passage  from  Ibn  Batuta  : — 
"  A  despicable  foe  had  had  possession  of  it  for  twenty  years,  until 
our  lord  the  Sultan  Abn  El  Haran  reduced  him  ;  he  then  re- 
built and  strengthened  its  fortifications  and  walls,  and  stored  it 
with  cavalry,  treasure,  and  warlike  machines." 


DEFENCES   OF  THE   ROCK.  39 

into  books,  but  was  always  constrained  to  throw 
them  aside,  and  return  to  the  writings  on  the  wall. 
What  manner  of  men  were  these  Moors  1  —  the 
ruins  suggested  the  question,  and  books  furnished 
no  answer. 

On  the  sea-side,  Gibraltar  is  open  to  the  fire  of  ves- 
sels, and  would  have  been  captured  on  one  occasion, 
but  for  the  dissensions  between  the  combined  forces. 
We  have  retained  it  only  by  a  new  invention,  red- 
hot  shot 

The  land-entrance  is  defended  as  follows  :  first,  the 
isthmus  round  the  north  face  of  the  Rock  is  dug 
out  and  filled  with  water,  and  between  this  basin, 
called  the  Inundation,  and  the  Bay,  a  causeway  only  is 
left,  which  can  be  swept  away  at  once  by  the  enormous 
guns  from  the  overhanging  caverns.  Behind  the  Inun- 
dation, is  the  glacis,  elaborately  mined ;  and  behind 
the  ditch  there  is  a  curtain,  mounting  eighteen  or 
twenty  guns,  which  fills  up  the  gap  between  the  Rock 
and  the  works  on  the  port.  As  you  advance  along 
the  narrow  causeway  between  the  Inundation  and  the 
Bay,  you  have  this  curtain  in  front.  To  the  right 
stretches  out  into  the  water,  a  long  low  mole  called 
the  "  Devil's  Tongue,"  and  between  it  and  the  curtain, 
there  is  tier  upon  tier  of  embrasures  over  the  Port 
and  the  Port  entrance.  To  the  left  of  the  curtain,  the 
sharp  engineering  lines  scale  the  rocks,  and  link  the 
chain  of  defence  to  the  Moorish  Tower.  Thence  the 
cliffs  sweep  away  round  to  the  left,  parallel  to  the 
causeway,  along  which  you  are  advancing.     The  Rock 


40  BOCCA   DEL   FUEGO. 

is  shaved  into  lines  for  musketry,  or  pierced  with 
port-holes,  which  stretch  away  in  rows  far  and  high. 
On  the  crest  of  the  first  precipice,  batteries  and  guns 
are  scattered.  You  see  them  again  on  the  loftiest 
summit  of  the  Rock,  so  that  as  you  approach,  you 
pass  over  ground  swept  with  metal,  and  through  suc- 
cessive centres  of  converging  fire.  This  is  by  the 
Spaniards  called  "  Bocca  del  Fuego."  At  each  step, 
from  all  around,  above,  below,  from  Merlon,  rock, 
and  cavern,  mouths  of  iron  —  some  of  them  caverns 
themselves — open  upon  you. 

This  is  the  only  portion  of  the  contour  of  the  place 
that  an  assailant  could  approach  or  batter.  With  a 
sufficient  garrison,  and  superiority  at  sea,  so  as  to 
throw  in  provisions,  the  place  is  clearly  impregnable. 
The  breaching  batteries  would  have  to  be  advanced 
beyond  the  guns  on  the  northern  portion  of  the  rock, 
and  the  advanced  works  would  be  looked  into,  and 
down  upon.  In  no  sieges  had  either  breach  been 
attempted,  or  third  parallel  drawn.  The  batteries  on 
the  crest  of  the  Rock,  termed  Willis's,  were  the  effec- 
tual defence,  by  their  plunging  fire  into  the  Spanish 
works.  The  siege,  properly  speaking,  was  an  attempt 
to  starve,  by  cutting  off  supplies  at  sea,  and  to  break 
down  by  sheer  superiority  of  fire  and  shelling.  The 
operations  from  the  sea  would  have  been  successful  but 
for  the  red-hot  shot.  The  vaunted  galleries  have  been 
constructed  since  the  siege,  and  are  mere  matters  of 
ostentation. 

Gibraltar  has  neither  dock  nor  harbour.    The  Bay 


THE   GUNS   OF   ST.  BARBARA.  41 

and  anchorage  are  commanded  by  the  Spanish  forts, 
St.  Barbara  and  St.  Philip.  These  are  levelled  at 
present;  but  they  will  arise  on  the  only  occasion 
that  we  can  require  protection — that  is  to  say,  a  war 
with  Spain.  They,  therefore,  must  be  restored  in  the 
mind's  eye,  if  you  would  form  any  estimate  of  the 
value  of  this  fortress  in  case  of  war.  They  were  dis- 
mantled during  the  late  war  by  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, lest  the  French  should  occupy  them,  and  destroy 
the  English  shipping.  The  Spanish  government,  how- 
ever, formally  reserved  its  right  to  rebuild  them.  The 
question  has  been  lately  raised  by  our  sinking  one 
of  their  men-of-war  in  their  own  waters,  while  pur- 
suing a  smuggler. 

The  guns  of  St.  Barbara  command  the  anchorage 
and  batter  the  harbour;  the  shells  from  it  and  St. 
Philip  pass  clean  over  the  Rock,  lengthways,  and 
can  be  dropped  into  every  creek  where  a  shoulder 
of  rock  might  shelter  a  vessel  from  the  direct  fire. 
During  the  siege  by  France  and  Spain,  the  post  was 
of  no  use.  Unless  when  superior  at  sea,  we  had  to 
sink  our  vessels  to  save  them. 

In  Gibraltar,  there  is  little  trade  except  contra- 
band ;  the  natural  commerce  having  been  systemati- 
cally discouraged,  that  the  martial  departments  might 
not  be  troubled,  and  with  the  view  of  reducing  it  to 
a  mere  military  establishment.  The  fiscal  regulations 
of  Spain,  which  sustain  this  traffic,  would  long  since 
have  fallen  but  for  its  retention  by  England.  We, 
therefore,   lose  the  legitimate   trade  of  all  Spain  for 


42  CESSION   OF   GIBRALTAR 

the  smuggling  profits  (which  go  to  the  Spaniards)  at 
this  port. 

Gibraltar  does  not  command  the  Straits.  It  does 
not  present  means  of  repairs  for  the  navy.  It  does 
not  afford  shelter  for  shipping  in  case  of  war.  It 
does  not  advantage,  but  seriously  incommodes  our 
trade.  It  does  not  afford  the  means  of  invading  or 
of  overawing,  or  even  in  any  way  annoying  Spain, 
however  much  it  may  irritate  her ;  for  no  fertile 
country,  populous  region,  or  wealthy  city  is  exposed 
to  it,  and  there  is  no  highway  by  land  or  sea  which 
it  can  command. 

William  III.,  when  he  conspired  for  the  partition  of 
the  Spanish  monarchy,  on  the  demise  of  Charles  the 
Second,  stipulated  for  Gibraltar,  the  ports  of  Mahon, 
and  Oran,  and  a  portion  of  Spain's  transatlantic  do- 
minions. On  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  line  of 
Philip  Le  Bel,  Louis  XIV.  was  bought  off  by  the  offer 
of  the  crown  for  his  grandson.  The  English  and  the 
Dutch  then  set  up  Charles  the  Third,  and  sent  a  squa- 
dron in  his  name  to  summon  Gibraltar  to  surrender. 
The  garrison  consisted  only  of  one  hundred  and  ninety 
men  ;  but  it  held  out.  The  Dutch  and  English  bat- 
tered, and  took  it.  The  flag  of  Charles  the  Third  was 
hoisted,  but  suddenly  hauled  down  and  replaced  by 
the  English,  to  the  surprise  and  indignation  of  our 
Dutch  allies.  Thus  was  revealed  the  secret  condi- 
tion of  the  compact. 

Gibraltar  was  all  that  England  did  get  out  of  that 
war,  and  as  this  robbery  went  a  great  way  to  ensure 


TO  THE   ENGLISH.  43 

her  discomfiture,  and  to  establish  Philip  the  Fifth 
upon  the  throne,  we  may  consider  Gibraltar  as  the 
cause  of  the  first  of  those  ruinous  wars  which,  made 
without  due  authority,  and  carried  on  by  anticipa- 
tions of  Revenue,  have  introduced  among  us  those 
social  diseases  which  have  counterbalanced  and  per- 
verted the  mechanical  advancement  of  modern  times. 

Gibraltar  was  confirmed  to  us  at  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht,  but  without  any  jurisdiction  attached  to  it, 
and  upon  the  condition  that  no  smuggling  should  be 
carried  on  thence  into  Spain.  These  conditions  we 
daily  violate.  We  exercise  jurisdiction  by  cannon 
shot  in  the  Spanish  waters  (for  the  Bay  is  all  Span- 
ish). Under  our  batteries,  the  smuggler  runs  for 
protection  ;  he  ships  his  bales  at  our  quays;  he  is 
either  the  agent  of  our  merchants,  or  is  insured  by 
them ;  and  the  flag-post  at  the  top  of  the  Rock  is 
used  to  signal  to  him  the  movements  of  the  Spanish 
cruisers.  * 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  Gibraltar  has  been 
honourably,  some  will  even  say  chivalrously,  won  in 
fair  fight ;  that  it  has  been  secured  by  treaty  and  is 
retained  on  duly  observed  conditions  ;  or,  perhaps, 
we  never  trouble  ourselves  about  such  matters,  and 
imagine,  therefore,  that  other  nations  are  equally  in- 
different ;  but  if  any  one  of  us  would  take  the  trouble 
to  imagine  the  fortress  of  Dover  in  the  possession  of 

*  When  this  was  told  to  M.  Thiers,  he  would  not  believe  it, 
till  he  went  out  and  watched  the  balls  and  flags,  and  had  the  use 
explained  to  him  by  a  boatmen  of  the  port. 


44  COST   OF   MAINTAINING, 

France,  or  Austria,  or  Russia,  he  would  then  compre- 
hend why  Napoleon  said  that  "  Gibraltar  was  a  pledge 
which  England  had  given  to  France  by  securing  to 
herself  the  undying  hatred  of  Spain."  * 

Now  let  us  see  the  cost.  The  first  item  in  the 
account  is  the  Spanish  "War  of  Succession.  From  the 
consequences  of  that  war  and  the  retention  of  Gib- 
raltar, the  family  compact  of  the  Bourbons  arose. 
The  subsequent  European  wars  are  thus  partly  the 
cost-price  of  Gibraltar. 

This  combined  power  weighed  constantly  against 
England  and  her  fortune.  If  these  effects  were  to 
be  calculated  in  money,  it  would  be  by  hundreds  of 
millions.  The  actual  outlay,  however,  is  enormous. 
Gibraltar  must  have  cost  at  least,  50,000,000/.f     If 

*  Napoleon  in  captivity,  being  asked  if  he  really  had  the 
intention  of  attacking  Gibraltar,  or  the  hope  of  getting  pos- 
session of  it,  answered,  "It  was  not  my  business  to  relieve 
England  from  such  a  possession.  It  shuts  nothing,  it  opens 
nothing,  it  leads  to  nothing, — it  is  a  pledge  given  by  England 
to  France,  because  it  ensures  to  England  the  undying  hatred 
of  Spain." 

t  The  following  is  only  suggested  as  a  rough  guess  : — 
Ordinary  expenditure  during  ninety  years  of 

peace   .....         £18,000,000 
Extraordinary  expenditure  during   fifty-five 

years  of  war      ....  22,000,000 

Sieges,  including  expenses  of  fleets  for  its  de- 
fence, vessels  for  its  supply,  loss  of  ships 
to  the  enemy,  &c.  .  .  10,000,000 

Fortifications  ....  5,000,000 


£55,000,000 


AND  VALUE   OF,  GIBRALTAR.  45 

any  one  were  to  do  us  the  favour  of  taking  it  off 
our  hands,  we  should  save  30,000,000/.  more,  for 
the  interest  of  that  sum  is  absorbed  by  its  yearly 
outlay. 

I  cannot  speak  of  this  place  in  any  sense  as 
English.  I  must  recollect  only,  and  describe  it  as 
Moorish.  To  the  Moors  it  owes  its  reputation  and 
its  strength ;  and  it  had  for  them  value.  It  was  ac- 
quired by  them  in  a  fair,  open,  stand-up  fight.  It  was 
selected  with  judgment,  fortified  with  skill,  and  de- 
fended with  valour.  The  reason  why  the  place  was 
of  importance  to  the  Moors  was,  that  they  were  in- 
vading Spain  from  Africa,  and  that,  without  the 
superiority  at  sea. 

We  have  had  experience  of  Gibraltar  for  a  century 
and  a  half :  we  have  carried  on  great  wars  during  that 
time,  maritime  and  territorial  combined.  The  Medi- 
terranean, as  much  as  the  ocean,  has  been  the  field 
of  our  operations.  Spain  has  been  the  arena  of  con- 
test. In  the  history  of  time,  there  has  been  no  series 
of  events  so  calculated  to  bring  out  the  value  of  this 
fortress,  if  it  had  any  (except  as  above  stated),  yet 
what  have  we  to  show  ? — Merely  a  position  which  we 
have  defended.  "We  have  never  acted  from  it ;  we 
have  never  invaded  Spain  by  it ;  we  have  never  sup- 
ported Spain  through  it ;  we  have  never  refitted  at  it. 
It  has  figured  in  war  solely  in  consequence  of  opera- 
tions against  it,  or  by  the  necessity  of  accumulating 
and  locking  up  there  our  resources  for  its  protec- 
tion. 


46  VALUE   OF   GIBRALTAR 

The  question  of  its  value  for  England  can  only  arise 
in  the  case  of  Spain  being  against  us.  Spain  being 
with  England,  Gibraltar  would  be  at  our  disposal  as 
Ceuta  was  during  the  last  war.  In  the  hands  of  Spain 
no  sane  man  would  ever  think  of  attacking  it.  When 
William  III.  fixed  upon  it,  it  was  because  he  was 
seeking  for  something  to  cover  his  real  purpose,  which 
was  to  involve  the  nation  in  foreign  wars. 

Gibraltar  is  the  very  point  where  it  would  be 
desirable  for  Spain  that  an  invader  should  land.  It 
is  the  apex  of  a  rocky  province,  well  defended  and 
destitute  of  towns  and  subsistences.  Without  the 
command  of  the  sea,  you  cannot  attack  Spain  from 
the  sea ;  and  having  that  command  it  is  the  plains  of 
the  Guadalquiver  you  would  seek,  the  open  entrances 
into  Grenada  and  Yalencia.  It  would  be  the  towns 
of  Malaga,  Cadiz,  and  Barcelona — there  the  vital  parts 
are  exposed. 

The  Carthaginians  attacked  Spain  from  Africa. 
The  Romans,  like  the  English,  supported  Spain  j  at 
least,  they  began  by  doing  so.  Yet  neither  Cartha- 
ginian nor  Roman  fixed  upon  Gibraltar.  Scipio  has 
told  the  whole  story,  and  Livy  has  preserved  his  words, 
yet  no  one  seems  to  have  read  them.  They  are  of 
special  value  ;  for  the  contest  for  Spain,  and  through 
Spain,  for  the  world,  was  not  so  much  between  Rome 
and  Carthage,  as  between  two  families,  the  Scipios 
and  the  Barcas.  The  passage  I  refer  to,  is  in  Scipio's 
speech  to  the  soldiers  before  the  walls  of  Carthagena, 
the   spot   where    Spain    was    most   vulnerable    from 


TO   SPAIN.  47 

Africa,  and  where  Africa  might  be  most  heavily  struck 
from  Spain." 

Had  the  Moors  been  able  to  do  what  the  Cartha- 
ginians did,  they  would  not  have  fixed  on  this  rock. 
Having  been  defeated  at  sea  before  the  first  invasion, 
they  had  to  steal  over  by  the  nearest  point.  Gibraltar 
was  their  tete  de  pont  across  the  Straits.  Ceuta,  their 
place  of  arms,  was  immediately  opposite,  yet,  with  all 
these  propitious  circumstances,  Gibraltar  came  to  be 
of  importance  only  as  commanding  the  Bay  of  Algesi- 
ras,  which  they  had  made  strong,  though  not  natu- 
rally so,  by  sheer  building  and  fortification. 

Gibraltar  now  lives  on  its  former  credit.  There  are 
no  Scipios  or  Hannibals  now-a-days,  nor  even  Napoleons 
or  Walpoles.f  We  are  now  men  learned  in  facts. 
Gibraltar  being  a  place  of  great  strength,  it  is  assumed 
to  be  a  place  of  great  value,  and  we  are  perfectly  con- 
tent with  having  for  the  sake  of  it  disturbed  Europe, 
endured  the  abomination  and  the  load  of  public  debt, 
sullied  our  name,  and  squandered  our  treasure.  And 
yet  this  cost  would  not  be  wholly  vain,  if  the  word 
"  Gibraltar,"  could  but  bring  some  of  that  blood  to 
the  cheek  of  the  Englishman,  which  it  causes  to  rush 
to  the  heart  of  the  Spaniard.     No  doubt  there  is  for 

*  "  Potiemur  prseterea  cum  pulcherima  opulentissima  que  urbe 
turn  opportunissima,  portu  egregio  unde  terra  marique  quie  belli 
usus  poscunt  suppeditentur  *  *  Hsec  illis  arx,  hoc  horreum,  aera- 
rium,  armamentarium,  hoc  omnium  rerum  receptaculum  est.  Hue 
rectus  ex  Africa  cursus  est.  Haec  una  inter  Pyrenaeum  et  Gades 
static     Hinc  omnis  Hispania  imminet  Africa)." — Livy. 

t  He  did  his  best  to  restore  it  to  its  rightful  owner. 


48  SPAIN,    FRANCE,   AND   ENGLAND. 

the  Spaniard,  a  conflict  of  disgusts,  and  he  has  sever- 
ally been  under  obligations  to  England  and  France, 
when  spoiled  by  the  other;  but  that  has  been,  as 
regards  him  only,  a  temporary  relaxation  of  wicked- 
ness and  perfidy,  and  in  aiding  him,  each  has  only 
been  opposing  its  own  antagonist. 

The  Spaniard  alone  in  Europe  has  retained  the 
faculty  of  looking  at  a  nation's  acts  as  those  of  a  man, 
and  appreciating  it  thereby.  He  does  not  ask  what 
it  says  or  intends,  or  what  food  it  eats,  or  how  many 
servants  it  has.  He  looks  at  its  dealings  with  himself. 
The  Spaniard  knows  that  his  two  neighbours,  for  one 
hundred  and  forty  years,  have  been  seeking  to  rob 
and  overreach  him;  plotting  one  day  the  partition  of 
his  property,  the  next,  the  supplanting  of  his  heir ; 
constantly  engaged  in  intrigues  amongst  his  servants, 
and  the  one  or  the  other  insisting  on  ruining  his 
steward.  He  sees  that,  during  all  that  time,  they 
have  gained  nothing;  but  while  injuring  him,  have 
themselves  squandered  incalculable  fortunes  and  in- 
numerable lives, — what  can  he  feel  towards  them  but 
hatred  and  disgust  ?  Fortunate  is  it  for  them,  he  does 
so  ;  for  this  prevents  either  of  them  getting  a  footing 
in  Spain  :  if  the  one  could,  the  other  would  and  could 
also  ;  and  the  scenes  of  the  Inquisition  would  then  be 
repeated.  But  in  the  struggle  of  Rome  and  Carthage 
the  world  remained  the  prize  of  the  victor  ;  the  strug- 
gle between  England  and  France  will  be  certainly  at 
the  cost  of  both,  and  assuredly  will  terminate  in  the 
supremacy  of  neither,  and  out  of  Spain  that  contest 


GIBRALTAR   AND   MURRAY'S   HAND-BOOK.  49 

may  yet  come,  unless  there  be  sense  enough  in  one 
country  or  the  other  to  know  what  its  agents  are 
about,  and  to  stop  them. 

GIBRALTAR    AS    EXHIBITED    IN    MURRAY'S    HAND-BOOK. 

"  It  was  captured  during  the  War  of  the  Succession 
by  Sir  George  Rooke,  July  24th,  1704,  who  attacked 
it  suddenly,  and  found  it  garrisoned  by  only  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  who  immediately  had  recourse  to 
relics  and  saints.  It  was  taken  by  us  in  the  name  of 
the  Archduke  Charles ;  this  was  the  first  stone  which  fell 
from  the  vast  but  ruinous  edifice  of  the  Spanish  monarchy, 
and  George  I.  would  have  given  it  up  at  the  peace  of 
Utrecht,  so  little  did  he  estimate  its  worth,  and  the  nation 
thought  it  '  a  barren  rock,  an  insignificant  fort,  and  a 
useless  charge.'  What  its  real  value  is  as  regards  Spain, 
will  be  understood  by  supposing  Portland  Island  to  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  French.  It  is  a  bridle  in  the  mouth 
of  Spain  and  Barbary.  It  speaks  a  language  of  power 
which  alone  is  understood  and  obeyed  by  those  cognate 
nations.  The  Spaniards  never  knew  the  value  of  this 
barren  rock  until  its  loss,  which  now  so  wounds  their 
national  pride.  Yet  Gibraltar  in  the  hands  of  England 
is  a  safeguard  that  Spain  never  can  become  a  French 
province,  or  the  Mediterranean  a  French  lake.  Hence 
the  Bourbons  north  of  the  Pyrenees  have  urged  their  poor 
kinsmen-tools  to  make  gigantic  efforts  to  pluck  out  this 
thorn  in  their  path.  The  siege  by  France  and  Spain 
lasted  four  years.  Then  the  very  ingenious  M.  d'Arcon's 
invincible  floating  batteries,  that  could  neither  be  burnt, 
sunk,  nor  taken,  were  burnt,  sunk,  and  taken  by  plain 
Englishmen,  who  stood  to  their  guns  on  the  13th  of 
September,  1783."— (p.  341.) 

VOL.  I.  E 


50         GIBRALTAR  AND  MURRAY'S  HAND-BOOK. 

"  Gibraltar,  from  having  been  made  the  hotbed  of  revo- 
lutionists of  all  kinds,  from  Torrijos  downwards,  has  ren- 
dered every  Spanish  garrison  near  it  singularly  sensitive ; 
thus  the  Phoenicians  welcomed  every  stranger  who  pryed 
about  the  Straits,  by  throwing  him  into  the  sea." — (p.  226.) 
"  There  is  very  little  intercommunication  between  Alge- 
ciras  and  Gibraltar ;  the  former  is  the  naval  and  military 
position  from  whence  the  latter  is  watched,  and  the 
foreigner's  possession  of  Gibraltar  rankles  deeply,  as  well 
it  may.  Here  are  the  head-quarters  of  Spanish  preven- 
tive cutters,  which  prowl  about  the  Bay,  and  often  cut 
out  those  smugglers  who  have  not  bribed  them,  even 
from  under  the  guns  of  our  batteries  :  some  are  now  and 
then  just  sunk  for  the  intrusion ;  but  all  this  breeds  bad 
blood,  and  mars,  on  the  Spaniards'  part,  the  entente 
cordialeP—^.  227). 


THE   KITAN    GARDENS.  51 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EXCURSION   ROUND  THE   STRAITS. 

Tetuan,  June  15th. 

I  have  been  a  week  in  Barbary.  I  landed  at 
Tangier,  and  crossed  the  country  to  this  place,  but 
I  have  been  too  busy  taking  in  and  digesting,  to 
put  pen  to  paper.  If  I  could  abstract  my  eastern 
self,  the  task  of  description  would  be  comparatively 
easy.  Yet  Morocco  is  as  different  from  the  East,  as 
the  East  is  from  Europe  ;  nor  has  it  only  the  interest 
of  diversity.  This  land  seems  the  common  parent 
of  both  :  things  come  suddenly  upon  you,  which 
carry  you  back  to  the  earliest  times,  or  afford  the 
key  to  the  commonest  present  customs.  The  idle 
curiosity  first  awakened,  is  soon  changed  to  a  sense 
of  the  importance  of  every  trifle. 

I  will  begin  with  the  last  thing  I  have  seen. 
I  have  just  returned  from  the  gardens  called  Kitan, 
about  three  miles  from  this  place :  they  are  in  a 
wooded  valley  at  the  beginning  of  the  fore-foot  of 
the  lesser  Atlas,  which  towers  above.  We  passed 
through  lanes  of  tall  reeds,  partitioning  off  other  gar- 
dens, and  entered  by  a  gate  a  lofty  apartment,  com- 
posed of  split  reeds  woven  together  in  various  trellice 
patterns  :  over  the  higher  parts,  the  vine  was  trained  ; 

s2 


52  THE   GARDENS   OF   MOROCCO. 

the  sides,  windows,  and  doors  were  festooned  with 
jasmine.  Here  our  horses  were  left ;  but  the  gardens 
in  Morocco  are  adjusted  for  equitation,  and  the  covered 
alleys  are  high  enough  to  be  ridden  through.  The 
ornamental  buildings  were  ruined  and  the  garden  is 
let  out  as  an  orchard  for  its  fruit.  A  broad  terrace 
supported  a  reservoir  on  a  level  with  the  tops  of  the 
trees,  and  on  it  stood  a  pavilion.  The  whole  ex- 
hibited a  stamp  and  character  of  its  own,  and  one 
could  quite  imagine  it  to  belong  to  the  people  who 
had  introduced  gardening  into  Spain ;  or  rather,  who 
had  converted  Spain  into  a  garden.  I  was  no  less 
surprised  to  find  realised  an  early  association  of  my 
own,  of  Morocco  and  gardens.  No  doubt  the  mate- 
rials are  here  ready  formed,  —luxuriant  vegetation,  in- 
finite variety  of  plants,  charming  sites ;  and  these 
alone  are  enchanting  to  us  of  more  northern  climes ; 
but  none  of  these  are  wanting  in  Spain — at  least  the 
difference  is  slight,  and  in  degree  only ;  but  here 
there  is  a  type  and  style. 

There  were  the  same  hedges  of  reeds  ;  lanes  of 
cactus,  trellices  of  cane.  Before  Mirza  crossed  the 
Straits,  or  the  Saracens  issued  from  the  desert,  the 
Arabs  came  not  to  teach,  but  to  learn  the  culture  of 
flowers,  and  the  irrigation  of  fields  :  they  came  to 
pluck  the  fruit,  not  to  plant  the  seed  of  the  golden 
tree.  So,  in  like  manner,  came  the  Greeks.  I  want 
no  books  to  tell  me  where  were  the  Hesperides.  I  tried 
to  forget  the  taste,  figure,  and  perfumes  of  the  orange 
and  lemon,  and  the  trees  that  bear  them,  that  I  might, 


IMMUTABILITY  OF   MOORISH  MANNERS.  53 

with  the  Greeks  who  first  saw  these  bowers,  j  enjoy 
the  surprise  of  their  dark  perpetual  green,  of  the 
white  untiring  flowers,  of  the  freshness,  ever  ready 
for  the  thirsty,  stinted  by  no  season,  and  throughout 
the  year  lavishing  on  all  the  bounty  and  the  fragrance 
of  their  golden  fruit. 

I  have  never  seen  men  so  wild  and  savage;  yet  they 
are  of  a  noble  nature.  The  costume  of  the  East  is 
grand,  rich,  picturesque ;  but  here  is  the  antique. 
Elsewhere  men  are  dressed,  here  they'  are  draped- 
The  figures  around  are  statues,  not  men. 

This  is  the  most  interesting  country  I  have  ever 
been  in.  I  have  trodden  a  new  quarter  of  the  globe, 
— I  have  beheld  a  new  form  of  room,  a  new  costume, 
a  new  kind  of  garden,  novel  and  yet  most  ancient. 

At  a  glance  you  perceive  that  here  you  have  got  to 
the  fountain  which  falls  back  to  whence  it  rises.  If 
you  had  broken  through  to  a  people  dwelling  beneath 
the  Pyramids,  you  could  not  have  firmer  assurance  of 
rest  and  immutability;  yet  they  are  alive  and  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  and  in  sight  of  that  giant  of 
velocity,  Europe,  which  has  been  bounding  from  pre- 
cipice to  precipice  of  years,  spanning  gulfs  of  cen- 
turies, and  counting  thousands  of  revolutions  of  the 
sun  to  arrive  only  at  forgetfulness.  These  know 
nothing  of  Old  Time.  He  cannot,  indeed,  be  denied 
in  private  intercourse ;  but  as  regards  the  state  and 
society,  his  glass  has  no  sand,  his  scythe  no  edge, 
his  arm  no  swing. 

At  last  I  have  met  a  janissary !     Here  only  that 


54  THE   JANISSARY  AND  ALGERINES. 

proscribed  race  could  find  a  resting-place  for  their 
foot.  The  persecuted,  the  tracked  and  hunted  of 
all  times,  creeds,  and  systems,  have  found  here  their 
last  home.  The  ocean  here  stopped  the  wanderer 
and  the  fugitive ;  the  desert  afforded  them  cover. 
His  delight  was  unbounded  :  he  has  been  following  me 
about  all  day.  The  old  janissary  was  of  the  Oda 
"  Fish."  He  showed  me  the  fatal  mark  upon  his  arm. 
He  took  me  to  visit  some  Algerines  who  were  em- 
ployed in  spinning  silk,  and  in  embroidery.  They  un- 
bosomed themselves,  and  I  discovered,  although  I  might 
have  known  it  before,  that  the  Moors  and  the  Algerines 
are  two.  One  of  these  men  had  property  in,  I  think, 
Tlemsin,  which  the  French  had  offered  to  restore  to 
him ;  but  he  preferred  staying  where  he  was,  because 
not  afflicted  by  the  sight  of  the  French.  Our  dress, 
and  especially  our  uniform,  produces  a  painful  impres- 
sion upon  the  eye  of  the  eastern,  and  I  could  refer  in 
illustration  to  Napoleon's  remarks  on  military  costume 
when  in  Egypt,  as  given  in  the  great  work  of  the 
"  Victoires  et  Conquetes  des  Franpais" 

At  Tangier  I  had  to  take  up  my  quarters  in  a 
Jew's  house,  and  I  went  there  late — merely  to  sleep  ; 
but  that  was  out  of  the  question,  for  the  Jews  col- 
lected in  the  patio,  or  centre  court,  made  too  much 
clatter.  One  night  I  was  invited  to  tea  by  a  party 
of  Moors,  from  Fez,  who  were  occupying  an  apart- 
ment in  the  same  house.  This  happened  to  be  my 
first  meeting  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  country — and 
I  shall  not  forget  it.     They  wore  large  white  turbans ; 


A  TEA-PARTY  OF  MOORS.  55 

were  very  portly,  with  sallow  countenances,  broad 
faces  and  foreheads.  The  haik  or  white  gauze  web,  in 
which  they  are  wrapped  in  the  streets,  was  laid 
aside,  and  they  were  seated  cross-legged  in  a  small 
circle  with  the  tea-tray  in  the  middle.  Tea,  and  a 
large  quantity  of  sugar,  and  sweet  herbs,  are  put  into 
the  pot  together.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  heard 
the  name  of  Abd-el-Kadir  pronounced.  I  introduced  it 
by  asking  them  what  news  of  the  "Emir?"  A  sud- 
den movement  of  surprise  followed :  they  turned 
glances  of  astonishment  the  one  to  the  other.  One 
of  them  inquired  what  was  thought  of  the  Emir  in 
Europe?  I  answered  it  was  known  that  he  was  fight- 
ing in  defence  of  his  native  land.  There  the  con- 
versation dropped.  I,  at  the  time,  imagined  this 
reserve  to  be  prudential ;  but  they  hate  him  as  an 
Algerine,  and  fear  him  as  a  disturber.  They  urged 
upon  me  that  France  was  repeating  in  Algiers  her 
former  game  in  Egypt ;  and  England  doing  the  re- 
verse of  what  she  had  done  ;  and  that  France,  stretch- 
ing to  Tunis  on  the  one  side,  and  to  Morocco  on  the 
other,  would  involve  Europe  in  war.  I  was  often 
stopped  in  the  streets  with  questions  about  the  for- 
tifications of  Gibraltar. 

"  May  I  see,"  said  one,  "a  war  *  between  England' 
and  France,  and  I  shall  die  content/'  "All  the  Mus- 
sulmans/ said  another,  "  look  to  you.  We  have  God  in 
Heaven,  and  only  England  on  earth."  An  old  Algerine 
captain  told  me  that,  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  War, 
the  Spanish  consul  had  explained  to  him  as  follows, 


56  THE   KINGDOM   OF  MOROCCO. 

why  England  had  succoured  Spain.  "  The  founder 
of  their  race  had  left  to  them  a  paper  on  which  was 
written,  'I  leave  you  ships  and  men,  and  this  com- 
mandment— when  a  robber  appears  on  the  earth, 
strike  him ;  but  touch  not  the  booty ; '  therefore  the 
English  drove  the  great  Napoleon  first  out  of  Egypt, 
and  then  out  of  Spain,  and  took  neither  for  herself." 

A  Moor  at  Tangier,  who  speaks  a  little  English, 
said  to  me,  pointing  to  shot-marks,  "French  got 
guns  so  big — Moors  so  big  (making  a  circle  with 
both  arms,  and  then  a  small  hole  with  his  forefinger 
and  thumb)  and  then  fire  away.    Shame  !  shame  P 

The  word  Moor  is  a  very  awkward  one.  I  do 
not  like  to  use  it,  and  know  not  what  to  substitute 
for  it.  There  is  no  race  so  named.  Barbary  is  in- 
habited by  Arabs  and  Brebers.  The  western  part  is 
again  subdivided  between  the  town  and  the  country, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  are  essentially  distinct. 
Then  the  so-called  kingdom  of  Morocco  is  composed 
of  four  distinct  kingdoms,  namely,  Fas,  which  we 
call  Fez,  to  the  north  ;  Marueccos,  which  we  call 
Morocco,  in  the  middle ;  Tafilelt  to  the  east ;  Suz 
to  the  south.  The  term  Moor,  cannot  be  derived 
from  Morocco,  as  is  generally  supposed,  for  if  it  were 
so  derived,  it  would  be  confined  to  Morocco. 

The  metropolis  has  been  sometimes  at  Morocco, 
sometimes  at  Fez.  These  kingdoms  have  been  sepa- 
rated. Then  the  Mussulman  dominion  in  Spain  has 
been  subdivided  ;  then  the  African  power  predominat- 
ing in  Spain,  and  then  the  Spanish  in  Africa.    Then 


THE   NAME   OF  MOOR.  57 

there  have  been  different  dynasties  and  systems.  A 
tribe  has  established  its  supremacy  over  the  rest. 
A  religious  sect  has  done  the  same,  whence  the  term 
Benimarines  al  Mahadehs  and  al  Moravides.  In  the 
impossibility  of  fixing  any  term  which  should  apply 
to  the  whole  system,  its  races,  faiths,  and  circum- 
stances, the  Spaniards  adopted  that  which  belonged 
to  ancient  Mauritania,  and  which,  no  doubt,  was  the 
name  by  which  strangers  knew  the  original  race. 

The  difficulty  which  has  presented  itself  to  stran- 
gers has  been  no  less  a  puzzle  to  themselves,  and 
they  have  been  wholly  unable  to  confer  a  name  either 
upon  themselves  or  upon  their  country.  They  style 
themselves  Mussulmans,  and  nothing  more,  and  they 
use  that  term  in  every  way.  They  would  say  "France 
has  attacked  the  Mussulmans ;"  and,  again,  "There  are 
many  Mussulmans  in  the  market,"  meaning,  in  the 
one  case  the  Moorish  State,  and  in  the  other  a  mere 
crowd.  Their  own  history  is  told  in  the  name  which 
they  give  to  the  country,  the  "  West ;"  and  the  proper 
title  of  the  Emperor  of  Morocco  is  the  "  Sultan  of  the 
West."  This  was  imitated  by  the  monarchs  of  Portu- 
gal when  they  took  the  title  of  Prince  of  the  A  Igarves. 

The  matter  at  present  of  most  immediate  interest 
in  this  quarter,  is  the  imposition  of  heavy  duties  on 
British  Trade,  of  which  I  heard  a  good  deal  at  Gibral- 
tar. I  objected  to  a  merchant  who  was  complaining 
of  it,  that  the  Sultan  of  Morocco  was  only  conforming 
to  European  science  and  practice.  Yielding  to  this 
argument,  he  declared  it  to  be  ungrateful,  as  we  had 


58  THE  MERCHANTS   OF  GIBRALTAR. 

stood  their  friends  against  the  French — so  ignorant 
were  they  at  Gibraltar  of  what  people  thought  and 
said  at  Tangier.  ,1  observed,  that  if  the  French  did 
as  he  said,  it  was  very  ungrateful  in  them,  yet  only 
a  consequence  of  our  own  acts.  He  said,  "Oh  we 
have  treaties  with  Morocco,  and  our  government  will 
take  care  to  have  them  enforced."  I  asked  him  what 
confidence  he  could  have  in  treaties  with  any  power, 
since  at  Algiers,  where  we  had  a  right  to  trade  on  pay- 
ing iiye  per  cent.,  we  have  submitted  to  the  French 
tariff.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  the  Moors  are  not  sharp  enough 
to  see,  or  strong  enough  to  take  advantage  of  that." 

There  is  nothing  more  amusing  than  to  hear  a 
merchant  of  Gibraltar  speaking  about  "right"  and 
"  treaties.1'  It  is  the  only  place  where  you  hear  such 
words.  Yet  their  commerce  is  smuggling,  which  is 
here  alone  on  earth  interdicted  by  treaty. 

I  have  several  times  seen  Dr.  Hughes,  the  Roman- 
catholic  Bishop,  a  venerable  and  worthy  man,  whose 
name  is  well  known  in  England  from  the  persecutions 
he  has  undergone  in  his  endeavours  —  and  I  am  glad 
to  say  successful  endeavours — to  put  down  at  Gibraltar 
that  system  of  Church  government,  or  rather  priestly 
usurpation,  which  prevails  in  Ireland,  and  which  makes 
Ireland  England's  chief  difficulty  —  namely,  paying 
priests  by  fees.  He  was  very  much  puzzled  to  compre- 
hend that  I  intended  to  go  to  Rome,  and  that  I  should 
be  acquainted  with  leading  persons  of  his  church, 
and  interested  in  it,  without  being  about  to  join  it : 
our  conversation  was   constantly  interrupted  by  his 


DR.  HUGHES   AND   PROSELYTISM.  59 

returning,  with  a  view  to  proselytism,  to  dogmatic 
points.  It  occurred  to  me  to  repeat  to  him  what 
the  captain  of  a  Tunisian  man-of-war,  lying  in  the 
Bay,  had  said  to  me  just  before.  "What  the 
Muscovites  have  long  been  in  the  East,  the  French 
are  now  becoming  in  the  West :  the  world  is  changed  ; 
all  (meaning  Christians)  have  become  robbers."  The 
subject  of  proselytism  was  then  dropped.  Yet  the 
Turk  had  put  the  case  very  mildly.  Sir  Charles  Napier 
wrote  after  the  battle  of  Meeanee,  "  I  rode  over  the 
horrid  field,  and  questioned  my  conscience.  The  blood 
be  on  the  head  of  the  Ameers  ! "  Alas !  is  this  the  way 
in  which  a  Christian  questions  his  conscience  \ 


60  CUSTOMS  AT  ALGECIRAS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ALGECIRAS— TARIFA . 

Towards  the  end  of  August  I  determined  to  profit 
by  the  last  of  the  fine  weather,  and  to  take  a  cruise 
in  and  about  the  Straits,  shaping  my  course  by  the  will 
of  the  winds.  Police  and  quarantine  regulations  are 
in  this  neighbourhood  perplexing  ;  so  I  first  sailed  to 
Algeciras  to  get  letters  of  introduction,  and  such 
papers  as  would  admit  me  at  Ceuta,  and  the  other 
Spanish  Presidios  on  the  African  coast. 

The  governor  anticipated  my  request ;  the  letters 
were  folded,  and  the  address  put,  in  the  Turkish 
fashion,  across.  The  Spaniards  use  this  form  for 
official  letters  only  ;  it  is  of  course  a  remnant  of  the 
Moors. 

I  observed  also  at  Algeciras,  that  a  black  cord  tied 
to  a  walking  stick,  is  the  mark  of  judicial  authority, 
whether  civil  or  military,  and  is  said  to  be  a  practice 
of  the  Goths. 

As  we  were  landing,  the  cargo  of  a  smuggler,  just 
brought  in,  was  being  conveyed  on  men's  shoulders 
to  the  royal  stores.  In  coming  across,  we  were  en- 
livened with  the  chase  of  a  little  punt,  by  two  scam- 
panas.     The   Terrible,  celebrated  as  a  smuggler,  and 


THE   TERRIBLE.  CI 

subsequently  as  a  catcher  of  smugglers,  lay  at  anchor 
beside  us.  Other  vessels  have  been  constructed  on 
her  lines,  but  none  have  equalled  her  speed.  The 
rig  of  the  smuggling  boats  is  one  large  lateen-sail, 
the  mast  stayed  forward,  a  long  bowsprit,  carrying  a 
jib  of  like  proportions,  and  a  lateen  jigger.  Three  sails 
thus  compose  the  suit :  they  have  nearly  an  upright 
stem,  a  round  stern,  and  spread  well  out  upon  the 
water.  The  Terrible,  as  a  smuggler,  could  have  '  run ' 
in  one  night  goods  to  the  value  of  £20,000. 

We  walked  in  very  pretty  gardens  of  a  social  kind 
— at  once  public  and  private ;  they  are  laid  out  in 
stars,  the  paths  diverging  from  centres.  The  gar- 
dens are  separated  from  the  path  by  a  small  ditch 
and  a  low  hedge,  enough  to  keep  out  an  intruder,  but 
not  to  intercept  the  view ;  so  that  each  person  has 
the  profit  of  his  own  grounds,  and  the  sight  of  all  the 
others. 

After  our  walk,  I  was  conducted  to  his  house  by 
the  Fiscal,  and  we  discussed  ancient  usages.  He  almost 
repeated  Sir  Francis  Palgrave's  words  in  speaking  of 
liberty,  that  the  purpose  uf  government  is  only  to 
obtain  adjudication.  He  laughed  at  the  use  of  Greek 
words  in  politics,  &c.  I  happened  to  refer  to  the 
address  to  Charles  V.  of  the  Cortes  of  Arragon,  when 
they  said,  "  How  shall  the  king  have  strength  to  carry 
on  war,  unless  the  nation  has  examined  into  its  causes, 
and  found  it  to  be  expedient  and  just?"  He  expressed 
his  astonishment  at  hearing  such  a  maxim  quoted  by 
an  Englishman.     "  For  two  hundred  years,"  said  he, 


62     CONVERSATION  WITH  GENERAL  LARA. 

"  Spain  has  injured  no  one,  and  has  been  unceasingly 
injured  by  England  and  France,  without  benefit  to 
themselves."  On  parting,  he  made  me  a  present  of 
Cornejo's  "  Law  Dictionary,"  a  rare  work. 

The  following  morning,  accompanied  by  Mr.  D.  and 
Mr.  B.,  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  general,  who  bore  the  old 
Iberian  name  of  Lara ;  when  a  very  interesting  conver- 
sation took  place.  He  was  much  excited  by  a  reference 
to  some  discussions  with  the  Governor  of  Gibraltar, 
about  rebuilding  the  forts  of  St.  Barbara  and  St.  Philip, 
and  took  occasion  to  expatiate  on  the  mistake  of  the 
English  on  the  subject  of  Gibraltar.  "  By  it,"  he  said, 
"you  may  irritate  Spain,  but  you  cannot  injure  her  or 
benefit  yourselves.  You  mistake  these  Straits  for  the 
Dardanelles :  there  is  no  padlock  on  the  Mediterranean. 
Tarifa  would  command  the  Straits  if  they  could  be 
commanded  :  you  blow  up  and  abandon  Tangier  which, 
being  to  windward,  might  have  served  you,  and  hold 
Gibraltar,  which  can  never  serve  you  in  any  way,  un- 
less indeed  your  object  be  to  convulse  Spain,  and  fill 
her  with  hatred  of  the  English  name."  The  gentlemen 
present  dwelt  much  on  the  dishonourable  nature  of  the 
capture  of  the  place,  and  on  the  injury  they  suffered 
by  our  retention  of  it,  and  the  use  we  made  of  it.  One 
of  them  said  it  would  be  worth  their  while  to  give 
Cuba  in  exchange.  They  were  surprised  and  delighted 
at  hearing  my  opinion  ;  but  the  note  was  changed 
when  I  referred  to  Ceuta. 

Though  I  had  been  at  Algeciras  on  several  occasions, 
I  now,  for  the  first  time,  visited  the  walls.     I  com- 


THE  WALLS   OF   ALGECIRAS.  63 

menced  on  the  southern  side,  and  I  could  trace  them 
around  the  crest  of  a  low  flat  hill.  The  towers 
are  close  to  each  other,  and  about  twenty  feet 
square,  of  solid  Moorish  tapia.  To  the  north  they 
are  more  remarkable.  A  large  tower  projects  into 
the  sea,  and  is  still  forty  feet  in  height.  I  had  to 
scramble  over  solid  pieces  of  masonry,  lying  about 
like  fragments  of  dislocated  strata !  It  is  not  the 
carefully-chiselled  and  mathematically-adjusted  blocks 
of  the  Egyptian,  Persian,  Greek,  or  Roman  architec- 
ture. The  materials  of  these  walls,  not  their  build- 
ing, is  the  marvel.  One  mass,  twelve  feet  thick, 
twenty-five  feet  high,  and  thirty  long,  has  fallen 
fifty  feet,  without  breaking.  While  examining  these 
masses,  I  observed  in  the  water  large  globes,  and 
thought  at  first  they  were  urns,  but  on  closer  inspec- 
tion they  proved  to  be  shot,  and  I  found  one  twenty 
inches  in  diameter,  and  weighing  about  seven  hundred 
pounds.  The  governor  was  kind  enough  to  permit 
me  to  have  it  carried  away  —  indeed,  he  offered  me 
one  still  larger  from  the  store  in  the  artillery-ground. 
These,  it  is  true,  might  have  been  intended  for  the 
catapulta  ;  but  gunpowder  was  unquestionably  known 
at  the  time  to  the  Mussulmans. 

Algeciras  was  rased  immediately  on  its  capture, 
and  has  never  been  restored.  That  event  preceded, 
by  two  years,  the  battle  of  Cressy,  which  England 
gained  partly  by  her  first  use  of  gunpowder.  Was 
this  art,  then,  learned  at  Algeciras  1  There  were 
English  auxiliaries  in  the  ranks  of  the  besiegers. 


64  SIEGE  OF  ALGECIRAS 

Looking  on  these  remains,  I  tried  to  put  myself 
in  the  place  of  our  forefathers  beleaguering  this  for- 
tress, when,  for  the  first  time,  they  saw,  heard,  and 
felt  this  terrestrial  lightning.  It  was  not  Neptune 
with  his  trident  upturning  the  walls,  but  Jupiter  with 
his  bolts  defending  them.  Algeciras,  Troy- like,  is  me- 
morable by  its  destruction.  The  Princes  of  Christen- 
dom and  of  Islam  assembled  from  far  and  near  to 
its  siege.  During  this  operation,  the  Spaniards  so 
suffered  from  Gibraltar,  then  in  the  hands  of  the 
Moors,  that  Alonzo  the  Great,  during  whose  minority 
it  had  been  lost,  vowed  that  he  would  retake  it. 
After  great  and  vain  efforts,  he  ended  his  days 
in  the  camp  before  it.  To  raise  money  for  the 
siege,  excises  were  first  invented.  The  French  word 
Gabelk,  and  Gabella  the  Italian,  come  from  the  Spa- 
nish Al  Cabala,  which  is  from  the  Arabic*  This 
Bay  is  thus  remarkable  as  the  birthplace  of  two  in- 
ventions, which  have  changed  in  modern  times  the 
features  of  war  and  the  characters  of  peace.  The 
other  to  which  I  refer  is  at  Cressy,  two  centuries 
before  that.f 

*  From  Kdbyle,  (tribe)  came  cabala,  which  signified  both  cor- 
poration and  market-place.  This  tax  was  levied  in  the  market- 
place, and  was  a  repetition  of  the  tenth,  which  by  the  Mussul- 
man law  was  levied  on  the  spot  of  production. 

t  "  The  battle  of  Cressy  furnished  the  earliest  instance  on 
record  of  the  use  of  artillery  by  the  European  Christians.  The 
history  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  carries  it  to  a  much  earlier  period. 
It  was  employed  by  the  Moorish  king  of  Granada,  at  the  siege  of 
Baza,  in  1312.     It  is  distinctly  noticed  in  an  Arabian  treatise 


THE   INVENTION    OF   GUNPOWDER.  65 

The  Chinese,  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  used  not  merely  gunpowder,  but  bombs, 
against  the  Moguls.  Nothing  can  be  more  clear 
than  the  description  of  the  latter  in  the  Turkish 
writers  quoted  by  D'Ohsson  in  his  history  of  the 
Mogul  conquests.  From  China  and  the  Tartars,  the 
discovery  might  have  passed,  as  paper  did,  to  the 
Arabs.  The  link  was  established  between  Pekin  and 
the  Amoor,  the  Amoor  and  the  Oxus,  the  Oxus  and 
Bagdad,  Bagdad  and  Cordova.  But  indisputably  the 
Saracens  were  working  their  way  towards  the  dis- 
covery —  the  granulation  of  that  composition,  which 
was  all  that  Friar  Bacon;  the  pupil  of  the  Moors, 
wanted  to  convert  his  crackers  and  squibs  into  car- 
tridges.* 

as  ancient  as  1249,  and  Casiri  quotes  a  passage  from  a  Spanish 
author  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century,  which  describes  the 
use  of  artillery  in  a  naval  engagement  of  that  period  between  the 
Moors  of  Tunis  and  Seville." — Prescott. 

*  See  "  The  Merchant  and  Friar."  It  has  been  imagined  that 
explosive  powder  was  known  to  the  ancients.  It  is  singular  that 
the  priests  of  Delphi  could  always  protect  their  Temple  against 
barbarians  (who  were  uninitiated)  by  thunder  and  lightning ;  but 
never  against  Greeks  (who  were  initiated). 

Pliny  speaks  of  the  art  of  bringing  down  lightning  being  made 
common  after  the  siege  of  Troy. — Lib.  ii.  ch.  53.  Philostratus, 
Lib.  ii.  Life  of  Apoll.  1.  iii.  ch.  3  says  that  Hercules  was  repelled 
by  the  Indians,  who  launched  lightnings.  The  Gentoo  code  for- 
bids the  use  of  fire-arms. 

Coming  down  to  modern  times,  Langlds  supposes  it  to  have 
been  used  by  the  Saracens  against  St.  Louis.  In  the  work  of 
Marcus  Graecus,  "Liber  ignium  ad  Comb,  hostes,"  it  is  said  to 
be  referred   to,  and  exactly  described  in,  Julius  Africanus,  ch. 

VOL.  I.  F 


66  MOORISH    AMMUNITION 

It  is  but  natural  that  they  should  have  possessed 
gunpowder  before  we  did,  for  they  anticipated  us  in 
guns.  Artillery,  at  its  very  origin,  attained  in  their 
hands  perfection.  Discoveries  and  practice  only  con- 
duct us  back  to  the  kinds  of  ordnance  at  which  they 
arrived  per  saltum  and  at  once.  Murat  II.  at  the 
siege  of  Leodra,  cast  guns  which  carried  ball  of  fourteen 
hundred  weight.  Such  Titanic  engines  may  still  be 
seen  at  the  Dardanelles,  and  Baron  de  Tott  consulted 
respecting  their  use.  At  the  battle  of  Chesme,  in 
1790,  the  Russian  Admiral  fell  aboard  the  Turkish 
Admiral  and  drove  in  his  guns.  While  the  vessels  were 
thus  foul  and  grappling,  the  Turk  discharged  one  shot 
from  inboard  ;  it  broke  through  the  Russian  on  the 
opposite  side.  She  immediately  filled  and  sank,  but 
locked  in  her  deadly  grasp,  her  antagonist  sank  with 
her.  They  now  lie  side  by  side  "full  fathom  five." 
At  that  time,  the  armament  of  our  heaviest  vessels 
consisted  of  twenty-four  pounders,  and  of  course  a 
"First  Lord"  would  have  scoffed  at  the  idea  of  a 
sixty -eight  or  eighty-four  pounder  afloat. 

I  am  afraid  I  should  never  get  on  if  I  entered  on 
the  subject  of  fortification ;  but  I  may  say  in  two 
words,  that  the  structures  of  the  Moors,  so  long  in 
advance  of  artillery,  have  borne  unscathed  its  brunt. 

44  ;  and  about  the  time  that  Roger  Bacon  was  amusing  himself 
with  crackers,  an  Arab  poet  was  describing  the  granulation  of 
gunpowder  in  verse,  Langles  "  Apud  Salverte,"  t.  ii.  c.  8.  If  the 
Arabs  had  had  it  from  us,  they  would  have  taken  our  word,  or 
given  to  it  a  constructive  name.     Their  term  is  original — Barut. 


AND   FORTIFICATIONS.  67 

At  the  Gibelfar  of  Malaga,  Tarifa,  Alcala,  &c,  are 
to  be  found  rudiments  of  advanced  works,  of  glacis 
and  counterscarp,  with  a  regular  system  of  flanking 
walls.  At  Estepona,  I  observed  angular  fortification, 
the  link  between  the  old  system  and  the  new.  There 
are  walls  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  artillery,  twenty- 
five  feet  high  and  as  many  thick,  on  which  the  guns 
must  have  been  mounted  en  barbette.  Their  Spanish 
pupils  anticipated  Vauban.* 

This  region  has  been  fertile  in  destructive  inven- 
tions. Gunpowder  was  first  used  for  mining  by  the 
Spaniards  at  Baza,  about  1480,  superseding  the  old 
practice  detailed  in  Timour's  Memoirs,  which  was,  to 
set  fire  to  the  beams  which  supported  the  roof 
of  the  mine  after  it  had  been  carried  under  the 
walls.f 

It  was  in  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  before  Ceuta, 
that  artillery  was  first  introduced  afloat,  in  1518,  by 
Don  Gonzalo  Zarto,  in  the  service  of  Don  John  of 
Portugal. 

It  was  at  the   last  siege  of  Gibraltar   that   shells 

*  Bastions  a  Oreillons  were  constructed  by  a  canon  of  Barce- 
lona, 1514.  Vauban  was  born  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
later. — See  Laborde,  vol.  i.  p.  58.  The  bastion  is  accidentally 
noticed,  and  not  as  then  a  new  construction. 

t  This  practice  was  also  known  in  Spain.  "  In  1445  a  report 
was  spread  that  the  Jews  had  undermined  the  streets  of  Toledo, 
— through  which,  on  the  festival  of  Corpus  Christi,  the  procession 
of  the  Host  was  to  pass — with  the  intention  of  setting  fire  to  it  at 
the  time.  The  mob  would  have  fallen  on  them  had  not  the 
authorities  proved  the  report  to  be  false,  and  prevented  the  mas- 
sacre."— Lindo's  Jews  of  Spain,  p.  226. 

F    2 


68  CARTEIA  AND   CEUTA. 

were  thrown  horizontally,  and  that  red-hot  shot  were 
first  used.  But  antiquity  also  furnishes  her  share  of 
discoveries.  It  is  not  travelling  too  far  to  set  down 
as  belonging  to  the  same  list,  the  sling  of  the  Balearic 
Islands,  and  the  leaden  bullets  which,  as  iElian  tells  us, 
the  Romans  obtained  from  Morocco.  The  battering- 
ram  was  first  used  at  Cadiz,  during  the  short  struggle 
between  the  Phoenician  colonists  and  their  unnatu- 
ral brothers  of  Carthage.*  The  Iberian  sword  bor- 
rowed by  Rome,  may  also  be  recorded  in  presence  of 
the  first  Roman  colony — Carteia. 

We  were  under  weigh  at  daylight  with  a  light 
wind  ;  but  were  baffled  all  day  by  the  currents. 
There  was  no  room  to  complain  of  detention  with 
such  a  panorama — so  many  monuments  of  man  to  re- 
call, and  such  a  phenomenon  of  Nature  as  the  cur- 
rents to  pry  into.  Close  on  the  right  were  the 
brows  and  bays  of  Andalusia  bearing  strange-looking 
towers.  On  the  left  the  bold  and  beautiful  moun- 
tains of  Abyla.  Behind,  the  rock  of  Gibraltar  presents 
itself  as  a  point  isolated  from  the  land,  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  Mediterranean.  Before  us  opened  the 
ocean,  from  which  rushed  in  the  never-tiring  stream. 
In  the  bay  which  we  had  quitted  stood  Carteia, 
founded  and  peopled  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  of 
Palestine.  On  the  African  shore,  opposite  its  rival 
in   antiquity,   if  not  in  splendour,  Ceuta.      On  the 

*  The  bas-reliefs  from  the  Palace  of  Ninus,  lately  brought 
home,  exhibit  battering  rams  in  full  play,  and  archers  : — so  there 
is  nothing  new  under  the  sun. 


IMPRESSIVE   SCENERY.  Ui) 

western  coast  of  the  African  strait,  the  Bay  of  Tingis, 
the  country  of  Danaus  and  Antaeus,  and  round  the 
European  shore,  opposed  to  it,  Gadera,  and  the  en- 
chanted island  of  Circe.  On  the  one  side  the  gar- 
dens of  Hesperus,  on  the  other  the  fields  of  Hades, 
and  between,  the  road  to  the  Cassiterides.  I  saw 
before  me  the  worshipper  landing  to  visit  the  sacred 
groves  of  Calpe,  and  then  threading  his  way  through 
the  then  narrow  passages  of  the  channel,  I  could  read 
in  his  thoughts  and  catch  from  his  tongue  the  names 
of  Atlas  and  of  Hercules,  as  he  saluted  the  one  and 
invoked  the  other.  Not  Greece  alone,  nor  Phoenicia, 
nor  Egypt ;  not  the  known  only,  or  the  imagined, 
but  all  these  together,  seemed  to  converge  to  this 
passage  and  to  settle  on  this  spot.  The  great 
shades  of  the  past  wandered  among  the  clouds,  and 
the  memory  of  every  people  floated  upon  the  bosom 
of  the  stream.  Had  that  forehead  of  Africa  been 
adorned  with  its  ancient  clusters  of  the  vine  ;  had 
it  borne  hamlets,  villages,  and  towns;  had  the  plough- 
man and  the  herdsman  been  there,  I  might  have  ad- 
mired the  richness  of  the  landscape,  but  should  not 
have  known  its  power. 

I  landed  on  Pigeon's  Island  to  fish,  but  was  soon 
lost  in  the  problem,  what  becomes  of  the  water  which 
pours  in  1  But  I  have  already  bestowed  upon  the 
reader  my  thoughts  on  this  subject.  Suddenly  the 
wind  veered  round  to  the  north-east,  so  we  were 
immediately  on  board,  and  dashing  away  for  Ceuta ; 
but   the  wind  dropping  as  suddenly,  we  again  made 


70  A   STORM. 

for  the  European  coast,  and,  aided  by  the  tide,  about 
midnight  reached  the  rocky  island  of  Tarifa,  which 
projects  into  the  Straits  at  nearly  the  narrowest  part, 
and  is  joined  by  a  causeway  to  the  land.  Scarcely 
had  we  come  to  an  anchor  under  the  rock,  when  it 
began  to  blow  heavily  from  the  east,  the  current  run- 
ning strongly  from  the  west.  We  were  entirely  shel- 
tered from  both,  but  not  from  the  roll  of  the  sea  ; 
yet  in  the  midst  of  this  raging  storm  and  boiling 
sea,  stunned  by  the  one,  and  tossed  by  the  other— we 
felt  not  a  breath  of  wind. 

As  morning  broke,  a  dismal  prospect  presented  itself 
— the  water  white  with  foam,  and  the  heavens  black. 
We  were  close  under  the  rock,  with  a  sort  of  cave 
or  cavern  abreast  of  us :  boats  were  lying  within,  for 
their  masts  appeared  over  a  breakwater  of  loose  rocks. 
We  durst  not  attempt  to  weather  the  point,  and  every 
moment  were  exposed  to  the  utmost  peril  by  the 
slightest  shift  of  wind  or  current.  The  long  and 
varied  sweep  of  the  Moorish  battlements  became  visible 
through  the  sleet,  lighting  up  gradually,  and  chang- 
ing as  if  presented  on  a  stage  :  suddenly  a  long 
boat,  well  manned,  emerged  as  if  from  under  water, 
and  casting  us  a  line,  towed  us  into  the  entrance, 
which  looked  landwards,  and  had  hitherto  been  con- 
cealed from  us.  We  struck  once  or  twice  on  a  bar, 
and  the  very  moment  that  we  cleared  the  jetty,  a 
sudden  gust  from  the  north  laid  us  on  our  beam- 
ends,  and  swinging  inside  instead  of  out,  we  were 
not  dashed  to  pieces. 


TARIFA.  71 

During  three  months,  I  had  seen  nothing  but  clear 
skies  and  smooth  seas.  I  could  now  feelingly  revert 
to  the  words  of  a  Spaniard,  who,  when  Philip  V. 
asked  which  were  the  principal  harbours  of  Spain, 
answered,  "June,  July,  and  Cadiz."* 

We  had  to  stand  nearly  two  hours,  dripping  and 
shivering,  till  the  necessary  sanitary  formalities  were 
gone  through,  and  the  permission  of  the  governor  to 
enter  the  town,  received.  Of  this  we  availed  ourselves 
with  more  alacrity  than  speed,  in  drenched  clothes 
and  water-logged  boots,  over  soft  wet  sand.  We 
entered  this  strange  town  through  the  gate  of  Guz- 
man the  Good. 

I  found  myself  at  the  Posada  for  the  first  time, 
under  a  gipsy  roof.  The  author  of  "  The  Gipsies  in 
Spain"  has  selected  this  house  as  the  scene  of  the 
most  salient  incident  of  his  work.  In  it  he  exhibits 
the  gipsy  race  with  diabolical  features,  and  under 
circumstances  scarcely  credible.  Nevertheless,  the  story 
tended  rather  to  diminish  my  distrust,  than  to  aug- 
ment it,  for  here  it  was  no  midnight  adventure  ;  no 
meeting  with  an  unarmed  person  in  a  nameless  street — 
the  names  are  all  given.  Little  did  I  expect,  at  the 
time  of  reading  the  story,  to  have  the  opportunity  of 
verifying  it. 

Mr.  Borrow   says  that   the  innkeeper's  sister  and 

*  It  is  singular  how  sentences  like  this  descend  and  adapt 
themselves  to  the  times.  A  Carthaginian  being  asked  the  same 
question  above  two  thousand  years  ago,  answered  "  June,  July, 
and  Mago." — Port  Mahon  was  named  after  its  founder. 


72  THE   GIPSY    STORY 

cousin  (as  he  severally  makes  her)  had  had  a  Spa- 
nish child  to  nurse,  and  in  sheer  spite  had  injured  it, 
with  the  purpose  and  effect  of  depriving  it  of  reason. 
The  idiot  is  then  brought  in  as  a  young  "  caballero," 
to  play  a  part  in  a  very  dramatic  cozening  scene, 
where  a  countryman  and  woman  are  cheated  out  of 
an  ass ;  all  this  is  narrated  circumstantially,  ex- 
plained sensibly — there  is  no  hearsay,  no  metaphor. 
Of  this  idiot  "  caballero  *  I  could  obtain  no  trace  ; 
he  was  neither  known  nor  had  been  heard  of  at 
Tarifa  in  the  memory  of  man,  yet  I  made  diligent 
inquiry  for  him,  and  sent  out  Mr.  Stark,  who,  from 
long  residence  at  Gibraltar,  was  familiar  with  the 
place  and  people,  to  see  if  he  could  hear  of  him  ;  but 
all  in  vain.  The  Alcalde,  to  whom  I  told  the  story, 
contented  himself  with  repeating  the  writer's  name, 
and  laughing  long  and  quietly.  As  a  last  resource, 
I  applied  to  the  people  themselves.  The  innkeeper 
had  no  "  sister ,;  and  no  "  cousin  f  there  was,  how- 
ever, a  sister-in-law,  so  I  questioned  her  about  "  the 
child  she  had  nursed.1'  She  declared  that  she  never 
had  had  a  child  of  her  own,  and  when  I  asked  if  her 
sister  had  nursed  any  child  ?  she  answered,  that  her 
sister's  youngest  son  was  eight  years  old  when  they 
came  to  Tarifa.  Her  testimony  was  confirmed  by  the 
neighbours,  and  the  fact  was  notorious.  Mr.  Borrow 
puts  them  in  possession  from  father  to  son.  They 
imagined  him  to  be  a  gipsy,  he  says,  by  his  talk- 
ing their  language.  I,  consequently,  inquired  about 
him  as   the   English  Gipsy.      They  did   not   compre- 


OF   MR.  BORROW. 


73 


hend  me  ;  but  recollected  a  tall  man  who  was  always 
writing  :  holding  up  their  hands,  they  exclaimed, 
"  We  thought  he  was  writing  some  learned  things, 
and  not  lies  about  poor  people  like  us."  The  story 
fills  fourteen  pages.  Mr.  Borrow  sends  a  Jew  before 
him  to  the  Posada ;  he  returns  and  reports  that  they 
were  Jews,  and  then  he  addresses  this  Jew  in  "Moor- 
ish" and  tells  him  they  are  gipsies.  As  if  a  Jew 
could  have  been  mistaken  about  Jews ;  and,  as  if  a 
person  who  could  speak  Arabic,  would  call  it  "  Moor- 
ish." A  few  pages  before  he  has  told  his  readers  in 
the  most  off-hand  manner,  that  the  Basques  are  Tar- 
tars, and  that  the  Basque  tongue  comes  between  the 
Mongolian  and  the  Manchou  !  all  which  is  equally 
authentic  and  profound — to  "  his  chum  "  Mr.  Ford. 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  Spain  to  be  misrepresented. 
She  has  been  the  subject  of  two  standard  and  classical 
works  —  Don  Quixote  and  Gil  Bias.  The  former,  by 
its  sterling  worth,  has  made  its  way  into  the  litera- 
ture of  other  countries.  Being  a  satire  upon  a 
particular  temper  and  habit  of  mind,  the  scene  and 
personages  of  which  are  Spanish,  it  is  accepted  as  a 
description  of  Spain.  As  well  might  England  be 
studied  in  "Dr.  Syntax/'  Those  peculiarities  which 
it  is  intended  to  ridicule,  and  those  extravagancies 
which  are  exaggerated  in  order  that  they  may  be 
exposed,  are  to  the  stranger  the  instructive  portion 
of  the  work. 

"Gil  Bias"  is  a  romance  by  a  Paris  bookmaker.  It 
owes  its  celebrity  to  an  admirable  sketch  of  a  great 


74        LETTERS  OF  BLANCO  WHITE. 

minister,  another  of  his  successor,  and  an  episode  por- 
traying Spanish  manners.  The  Barber,  Olivarez,  the 
Count-Duke,  the  Barber,  and  the  story  of  the  adven- 
turer himself,  in  his  retirement,  are  all  taken  from  the 
Spanish,  and  give  to  the  work  its  value.  It  is  then 
dressed  up  with  Spanish  peculiarities,  and  Madrid  or 
Paris  morals,  and  passes  from  hand  to  hand  as  a 
mirror  of  the  Spanish  mind. 

In  reviewing  the  catalogue  of  recent  works,  I  can 
point,  as  really  influencing  opinion  or  as  referred  to 
by  travellers,  only  to  Blanco  White's  Letters,  and  the 
work  out  of  which  these  remarks  originated. 

Blanco  White  *  is  a  man  who,  writing  upon  any 
foreign  country,  could  not  fail  to  perplex  the  judgment. 
How  much  more  in  respect  to  his  own,  when  describ- 
ing it  to  another,  where  he  had  made  himself  at  home  \ 
In  some  parts,  by  keeping  distinct  the  Englishman 
and  the  Spaniard,  he  has  been  able  to  translate  the 
one  to  the  other.  Those  parts  are  the  domestic  only. 
In  all  the  rest  he  has  jumbled  the  two  characters, 
and  has  made  the  prejudices  of  the  one  override  the 
simplicity  of  the  other ;  falsifying  the  commonest 
facts,  distorting  the  plainest  conclusions.  The  effect 
is  to  puff  up  the  Englishman  and  to  degrade  the 
Spaniard. 

To  Mr.  Ford's  book,  however  disagreeable  the  task, 
I  had  intended  to  devote  a  special  chapter ;  but  un- 
derstanding that  the  two  volumes  are,   in  the  second 

*  I  have  only  seen  this  book  while  revising  these  sheets  for  the 
press. 


THE   GOVERNOR   OF  TARIFA.  75 

edition,  reduced  to  one,  I  must  infer  that  the  author 
has  anticipated  my  conclusion — that  the  work  might 
be  made  valuable  by  cutting  out  the  slang,  ribaldry, 
opinions,  and  false  quotations. 

The  Governor  of  Tarifa  had  somewhat  the  air  of 
an  English  country  gentleman.  He  afforded  me  all 
the  facilities  I  could  desire  for  landing  and  embark- 
ing, and  sent  his  aid-de-camp  with  me  to  inspect  the 
fortifications.  On  presenting  to  the  Alcalde  a  letter 
from  his  brother  at  Algeciras,  he  declined  to  open  it, 
saying,  "You  are  expected."  He  conducted  me  from 
his  office  to  his  house  to  see  his  family.  Scarcely 
were  we  seated  when  he  remarked  that  the  arri- 
val of  a  stranger  was  an  extraordinary  event  at  Ta- 
rifa, and  still  more  so,  of  one  interested  in  their 
country,  and  who  busied  himself  in  studying  the  laws 
and  manners  of  different  people.  He  then  asked  me 
whether  I  had  thought  of  anything  for  their  benefit  1 
I  said  I  had,  and  that  it  was,  "  Bury  your  new  laws 
and  return  to  your  old  customs."  Having  explained 
that  my  meaning  was  to  get  rid  of  a  general  Cortes, 
not  to  substitute  a  despotism,  but  to  revive  the  local 
constitutions  —  that  is,  the  law,  leaving  to  each  the 
burthen  of  its  own  management  and  the  conduct  of 
its  own  business ;  he  said,  that  indeed  would  be 
putting  an  end  to  theories  of  "liberty"  or  u  despotism," 
and  that  the  plan  would  be  most  popular  if  any 
leading  man  brought  it  forward.  He  then  asked  me 
how  I  came  to  devise  such  a  scheme '(  I  told  him  it 
was  as  old  as  the  hills — that  it  was,  in  fact,  the  law 


76  THE   CLUB   AND   CARDS. 

of  the  Peninsula,  encroached  upon,  but  not  destroyed 
by  Austrian  or  Bourbon — that  these  ancient  customs 
were  looked  to  with  veneration  by  the  profoundest 
men  of  those  countries,  which  the  Spaniards  fancied 
they  were  imitating  while  they  were  destroying  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  war  which  the  Spanish  Go- 
vernment has  for  centuries  waged  against  every  ves- 
tige of  the  race  who  made  Spain  the  strongest,  most 
learned,  chivalrous,  and  polished  country  in  Europe, 
the  women  of  Tarifa  appear  in  the  streets  muffled 
up  as  Mussulman  women,  and  expose  but  one  eye. 

I  was  invited  in  the  evening  to  what  I  was  told 
was  a  club.  The  place  was  an  apothecary's  shop.  I 
was  introduced  into  a  sort  of  vault,  and  I  found  my- 
self in  a  gambling  establishment.  Their  cards  were 
like  those  used  by  the  Greeks  ;  the  club  being  repre- 
sented, not  by  the  French  trefoil,  but  by  a  club  ;  the 
spade  by  a  sword  ;  the  heart  by  a  cup ;  and  the  dia- 
mond by  a  gold  coin.  The  names  being  Bastones, 
Espadas,  Copas,  Oros.  The  conversation  having 
turned  upon  cards,  I  mentioned  its  supposed  astro- 
nomical origin  :  the  four  seasons  represented  by  the 
four  suits ;  the  fifty-two  weeks  by  the  number  of 
the  cards  ;  and  the  thirteen  lunar  months  by  the 
thirteen  tricks,  proving  whist  to  be  the  original 
game.  I  was  here  stopped.  They  had  only  twelve 
tricks  and  forty -eight  cards  ;  and  "  Of  course,"  said  a 
Spanish  Major  (a  Mr.  Kennedy),  "  our  game  is  more 
scientific,  because  adapted  to  the  Julian  Calendar  !  " 

Conversation  having  been  thus  substituted  for  gamb- 


CONVERSATION   AT  THE  CLUB.  77 

ling,  I  asked  what  they  thought  of  the  abolition  of 
the  Tithes  and  confiscation  of  Church  property?  They 
all  shrugged  their  shoulders.  I  repeated  my  ques- 
tion, saying,  that  as  a  stranger  I  wanted  to  know  if 
the  nation  had  been  benefited  by  the  measures  which 
its  wisdom  had  devised  for  its  own  relief.  This 
elicited  a  loud  and  general  "  No."  I  then  asked 
what  had  been  the  result  of  the  experiment  ?  The 
answer  was,  "The  poor  man  pays  more,  and  the  rich 
less."  This,  I  said,  was  satisfactory,  it  having  been 
laid  down  as  the  great  object  for  Spain  "  to  put  her 
institutions  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  that  rules 
those  nations  more  advanced  than  herself."  *  They 
at  first  thought  I  was  in  jest,  but  I  explained  to 
them  something  about  the  legislation  of  these  ad- 
vanced nations.  The  increased  burthen  on  the  poor 
was  then  explained — thus  :  the  tithes  are  remitted,  but 
a  tax  for  public  worship  has  been  imposed  ;  it  is  less  in 
amount  than  the  tithe,  but  a  new  set  of  fiscal  officers 
has  been  introduced  to  collect  it :  the  other  taxes 
since  the  abolition  of  tithes  have  been  increased.  Pas- 
turage and  cattle,  which  bore  under  the  tithe  system 
equal  charges  with  the  cultivated  land,  have  been 
spared  in  the  new  burthens  :  the  rich  are  thus  doubly 
benefited,  possessing  the  pasturage  and  not  suffer- 
ing in  the  same  proportion  as  the  poor  from  tax- 
gatherers. 

These    grave    politicians   could    not   recover   from 
their  astonishment  at  perceiving  that  there  existed  a 

*  Miraflores. 


78  SPANISH   NOTIONS   OF 

human  being  who  could  question  the  wisdom,  far  less 
the  sanity,  of  their  imitating  England  and  France.  I 
was  called  upon  to  declare  my  sentiments  on  the 
great  question  which  I  was  told  constituted  the  essen- 
tial difference  between  England  and  France,  viz.,  the 
principle  of  direct  or  indirect  election;  nor  could  they 
believe  me  in  earnest  when  I  assured  them  that  I  had 
never  so  much  as  heard  the  names  of  these  "  prin- 
ciples "  in  the  countries  referred  to.  "  England  and 
France,"  said  they,  "  are  great  and  powerful ;  must 
we  not  imitate  them  and  become  so  too  V}  I  sub- 
mitted, that  imitation  is  not  an  easy  matter  ;  that  it 
is  more  difficult  than  invention ;  that  it  requires  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  thing  imitated,  in  which 
case  there  could  be  no  reason  to  copy  ;  besides,  it 
was  impossible  to  copy  institutions.  "In  what  par- 
ticular,^ I  asked,  "  would  you  copy  us  %  Two  things 
only  have  we  to  offer  you  as  sanctioned  by  English 
consent — the  Guelph  Family  and  Johnson's  Dictionary. 
Will  you  have  them  in  lieu  of  the  Bourbons  and  the 
Castilian  T 

As  they  would  hear  of  neither,  I  then  ventured 
to  offer  a  Coburg  for  their  Queen,  on  which  there 
was  an  outburst  of  what,  in  the  French  Chambers,  is 
called  "  Denegation."  I  said  that  we  were  very  well 
satisfied  with  a  similar  arrangement.  "  The  very 
reason,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  party,  "why  it  will 
not  suit  us  ;"  an  avowal  which  I  did  not  fail  to  turn 
to  account.  I  was  then  questioned  as  to  Parliamentary 
proceedings,  currency  laws,  and  so  on,  and  I  endea- 


ENGLISH    AND   SPANISH   INSTITUTIONS.  79 

voured  to  make  them  apprehend  that  in  regard  to  the 
real  business  of  Government,  the  liberties  of  England 
depended  upon  the  Judges,  with  whom  rested  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  law  and  who  alone  had  the  power 
of  action ;  and  to  whom  were  rendered  amenable  the 
Executive  and  its  functions,  and  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, if  ever  it  took  upon  itself  by  an  act  of  its  own 
to  infringe  the  liberty  of  the  subject.  That  these  were 
the  two  elements  at  war  in  England — the  unwrit- 
ten and  the  written  law :  the  last  was  the  disease, 
and  that  alone  they  saw  or  dreamed  of  copying. 
"  Then,"  said  they,  "  let  us  have  your  courts  and 
judges."  1  told  them  they  could  not  have  the  Bench 
without  the  Bar,  and  that  neither  could  Jbe  transplanted 
like  lettuces,  or  grafted  like  slips  of  orange-trees. 

They  were  endeavouring  to  begin  where  we  had 
left  off.  That  which  was  abuse  to  us,  and  therefore, 
capable  of  remedy,  came  to  be  to  them  principle. 
"  After  all,"  said  one  of  them,  "  look  at  the  cloth 
you  wear,"  putting  his  hand  on  my  sleeve  ;  f  we  make 
none  such.  Probably  you  have  a  penknife  in  your 
pocket; — at  all  events,  you  have  shaved  with  a  razor 
this  morning  :  it  is  far  beyond  anything  that  we  can 
make.  We  owe  you  a  great  deal  of  money,  which 
you  have  lent  us  out  of  your  superfluity."  I  replied 
that  there  was  no  connexion  between  individual  dex- 
terity and  collective  wisdom.  They  made  the  mis- 
take of  attributing  our  prosperity — the  result  of  pri- 
vate industry — to  our  political  institutions  ;  and  we, 
in  like  manner,    attributed  their   disorders — the  re- 


80  ORIGIN   OF   CARDS. 

suits  of  the  political  theories  which  they  had  copied 
from  us — to  their  individual  character. 

The  general  Cortes  of  Spain  has  been  constructed 
theoretically,  without  the  consent  or  the  presence  of 
the  separate  kingdoms.  They  are  thus  figuratively 
merged,  not  in  one  of  the  kingdoms  more  powerful 
than  the  rest,  but  in  an  abstraction  which  they  call 
"  constitution."  Lamentable  would  be  the  fate  of 
humanity  if  follies  such  as  these  could  profit  or  endure. 

But  the  cards  out  of  which  this  conversation  arose, 
are  worth  returning  to.  I  was  surprised  to  see  the 
figures  such  as  those  used  by  the  Greeks  ;  to  hear  the 
suits  designated  as  by  them,  and  not  according  to 
the  names  used  in  Europe :  but  this  is  not  all.  The 
Spaniards  are  not  content  with  the  name  which  all 
other  countries  know  them  by :  card,  carte,  carta, 
spielharten,  will  not  do  for  them — they  call  them 
naipes.  A  learned  French  abbe*  (Boullet)  in  his 
"  Recherches  surlOrigine  des  Cartes  d  jouer,"  makes 
them  a  French  invention  posterior  to  the  use  of 
paper,  as  proved  by  their  being  called  cartes !  in- 
troduced into  Spain  through  the  Basque  provinces, 
where  they  took  the  name  of  naipes,  from  the  Basque 
word  napa,  which  signifies  smooth !  May  not  this, 
like  so  many  other  European  inventions,  turn  out 
to  be  a  mere  copy,  and  Spain  the  transmitter  to 
Europe  rather  than  the  debtor  of  Europe?  If  we 
go  back  to  the  once-famed  game  of  Ombre,  we  shall 
find  the  terms  of  the  game  all  Spanish,  such  as  spa- 
dillo,  matador,   &c.     If  we  go  to  Hindostan,  we  find 


CARDS   AND    CHESS.  81 

the  manner  of  playing  to  correspond  with  the  game  of 
ombre.  Here  is  the  link  established  between  the 
Hindoos  and  Modern  Europe  through  the  Spaniards — 
that  is,  the  Arabs.  This  latter  point  the  name  naipe 
confirms — Naib  or  Nawab,  whence  Nabob,  being  the 
equivalent  to  king.  "The  Four  Kings"  was  the 
original  name  of  cards  in  Europe.  An  old  writer 
quoted  in  Bursi's  " Istoria  delta  citta  di  Viterbo"  has 
these  words,  "  Cards  were  introduced  into  Viterbo  in 
1379,  from  the  country  of  the  Saracens,  where  they 
are  called  Naib.  In  Italy,  they  were  formerly 
known  by  the  name  Naibi.  The  two  old  Spanish  lexi- 
cographers, Tamarid  and  Broceuse,  derive  the  word 
from  the  Arabs.  Alderete  gives  the  fantastic  origin 
of  the  initials  N.  and  P.  of  the  supposed  inventor, 
Nicholas  Pepin,  which  the  moderns  have  followed. 
Islamism  has  driven  cards  out  of  use  among  the 
Arabs,  and  has  thus  left  us  to  dispute  about  the 
origin  of  the  name. 

Cards  and  chess  seem  to  have  been  combined  and 
originally  played  by  four  persons,  there  being  four 
suits  of  chessmen  as  well  as  of  cards.  The  history 
of  them  would  be  a  great  book,  if  it  could  be  written. 

Next  morning  I  came  down  to  embark  at  the  island  ; 
but  a  violent  storm  coming  on,  I  took  refuge  in  the 
house  of  the  keeper  of  the  lighthouse,  on  the  point 
of  the  rock.  The  channel  was  covered  with  vessels : 
they  had  been  all  the  morning  sweeping  away  to 
the  westward,  with  studding-sails  on  both  sides,  low 
and  aloft  ;  now  they  were  fast  measuring  back  their 

vol.  i.  o 


82  DEPARTURE   FROM   TARIFA. 

distance,  and  dashing  past  us  under  close-reefed  top- 
sails. "We  scrambled  over  the  sharp  points  of  the 
ledges  of  rock  to  watch  the  current  where  it  is 
most  straitened  and  convulsive.  The  dark  deep 
current  close  in-shore  was  running  out ;  a  hundred 
yards  or  so  from  the  rock  it  was  running  in ;  farther 
out  again,  there  appeared  another  stream  from  the 
eastward.  This  must  have  been  the  spot  where  the 
action  took  place  between  Didius  and  the  Cartha- 
ginian galleys,  "when  those  were  seen  pursuing  and 
these  flying,  who  hoped  not  for  victory  and  dreamed 
not  of  flight;' 

About  one  o'clock,  it  suddenly  cleared  up,  and 
the  sun  burst  forth  in  brightness  over  the  cooled  and 
watered  earth.  The  shroud  of  the  heavens  broke  up 
into  heaps  of  white  clouds,  "  showing  the  dark  blue," 
as  the  Highlanders  say,  "  through  the  windows  of  the 
heavens/'  The  bosom  of  the  Straits  and  the  brows 
and  heads  of  the  hills  were  mottled  by  their  shadow,  as 
they  drifted  along,  chasing  each  other  :  at  equal  pace 
poured  the  current,  and  in  the  same  direction.  Soon 
reissuing  from  cove  and  rock,  flocks  of  white  sails  were 
crowding  on  their  way  back  over  the  course  which 
they  had  already  twice  measured.  Invited  by  the 
breeze,  and  shamed  by  the  example,  we  lingered  for 
a  while  to  enjoy  the  pleasant  mood  of  this  fitful  tor- 
rent, and  then  hurried  on  board,  and  were  soon  sweep- 
ing down  before  the  batteries.  We  took  good  care 
to  clear  our  colours  and  to  make  them  blow  out  well, 
to  save  them  the  trouble  of  hulling  us,  as  they  did  an 


APING    POWER.  83 

American  in  the  morning,  because  his  stripes  and  stars 
had  not  been  flashing  to  windward  of  the  spanker, 
with  as  much  coolness  as  if  they  had  been  firing  at 
a  partridge.  That  sort  of  thing  is  all  very  well  at 
Gibraltar,  with  a  thousand  guns  in  battery,  and  four 
thousand  men  behind  them  ;  but  four  artillery-men 
with  three  mounted  field -pieces,  to  be  busy  with 
rammer,  sponge,  cartridge,  and  ball,  ready  to  blaze 
away  at  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  should  any  luck- 
less wight  forget  to  exhibit  a  bit  of  bunting  by  day, 
or  a  lantern  by  night,  is  about  the  most  absurd 
prank  one  ever  heard  of.  They  will  fire  as  glibly 
on  a  three-decker  as  on  a  cock-boat,  if  the  ensign 
happens  to  draw  to  leeward,  as  was  the  case  re- 
cently with  the  Phantom,  at  Ceuta ;  and  yet  they 
make  no  profit  of  the  statistical  information  they  seek 
with  so  much  ardour.  They  have  no  toll  to  receive, 
as  at  the  Sound ;  no  sovereignty  to  assert,  as  at  the 
Dardanelles  ;  no  neighbour  to  browbeat,  and  no  smug- 
gling to  protect,  as  at  Gibraltar  : — besides,  we  sink 
their  vessels. 

To  provide  against  being  carried  down  to  the  Me- 
diterranean, had  it  fallen  calm,  which  might  have 
entailed  a  week's  cruise,  we  stretched  at  once  to  the 
African  shore.  Despite  the  fears  of  my  Scorpion* 
pilot,  and  cook,  we  skimmed  along  the  edge  of  the 
stream,  and  shaved  every  headland,  until  we  reached 
the  last  point  of  the  Straits,  to  which  we  had  to  give 
a  wide  berth,  on  account  of  the  "  race."    Inquiring  the 

*  The  name  given  to  those  born  on  the  Rock. 

a  2 


84  PUNTA   LEONE. 

name,  the  answer  was,  "Punta  Leone."  The  man 
may  paint  the  lion  as  he  likes,  but  he  has  but  one 
name  to  call  him  by. 

But  why  call  the  point  that  looks  towards  Europe, 
Lion  %  A  few  centuries  ago,  and  the  question  would 
not  have  been  to  be  asked.  Then  from  this  spot  the 
spectator  who  observed  the  hordes  ferried  in  an  unin- 
terrupted stream  of  galleys  across,  and  beheld  the 
rock  of  Calpe,  which  from  here,  as  from  the  north,  is 
the  very  likeness  of  a  lion  crouching  on  the  point, 
would  have  seen  in  the  figure  the  emblem  of  the 
event,  and  turning  to  the  hill  above  to  look  whence 
the  beast  of  the  desert  had  taken  his  spring,  instinc- 
tively must  so  have  named  it. 


CEUTA.  85 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CEUTA. 

Oct.  10th. 

I  considered  it  quite  a  feat  to  get  at  this  Spanish 
key  to  the  Straits,  having  been  foiled  in  two  attempts, 
the  one  by  land,  the  other  by  sea  :  once  the  Spa- 
niards stopped  me,  once  the  Moors.  Like  its  vis- 
d-vis,  to  which  it  stands  at  right  angles,  it  is  a  rocky 
tongue,  joined  to  the  main  by  a  low  and  narrow 
neck,  and  pointing  down  the  Mediterranean.  It  is 
all  rounded  and  smooth:  in  its  figure  it  presents 
nothing  salient,  and  in  its  defences  displays  nothing 
formidable.  The  place  derives  its  character  not  from 
the  fortifications,  but  from  the  gardens,  and  each 
serves  the  purpose  of  the  other.  The  public  works 
are  all  laid  out  as  pleasure-grounds,  and  the  cactus 
orchards  are  disposed  in  alleys  on  every  rising  ground, 
so  as  to  form  stockades. 

The  tongue  is  formed  of  a  chain  of  six  dunes,  or 
hillocks,  with  a  seventh  considerably  larger  at  the 
eastern  point,  on  which  is  seated  a  small  fortress 
These  are  the  seven  brothers  whence  the  name  is 
supposed   to   be   derived.*      The   fortifications,   like 

*  Septem. 


86  HISTORICAL   DESCRIPTION 

those  of  Gibraltar,  are  directed,  not  to  command  the 
sea,  but  to  defend  it  against  the  land.  It  has  no 
level  ground  in  front,  swept  by  its  galleries  and 
batteries  ;  but,  instead,  a  hill  approaches  nearly  to  the 
glacis,  and  looks  into  the  works.  The  landscape 
beyond  stretches  away,  wooded  and  picturesque,  to 
the  foot  of  the  chain  or  block  of  mountains  which 
fill  up  this  angle  of  Africa,  overshadowing  Tetuan  on 
the  one  side,  Tangier  on  the  other,  and  ranging  along 
the  Straits.  The  only  sign  of  human  habitation  is  a 
small  enclosure  of  white  walls,  with  a  tower  perched 
on  the  green  mountain  side,  like  a  city  on  old  tapes- 
try in  some  Arcadian  scene.  All  was  silent  in  that 
landscape,  and  it  might  have  been  taken  for  a  pano- 
rama, but  for  the  Koman  vexillum  *  fluttering  from 
the  tower,  which  showed  that  a  Saracen  eye  watched 
the  keep  of  the  Goth. 

Two  thousand  years  before  Gibraltar  was  heard  of, 
Ceuta  was  an  important  place.  It  is  enumerated  as 
one  of  the  three  earliest  of  cities.  Since  the  disco- 
very of  Gibraltar  their  fortunes  have  been  strangely 
similar.  Each  has  been  wrested  from  the  land  to 
which  it  belonged.  Each  is  held  by  a  foreign  Power 
to  which   it  is  useless.      Neither   has  been  won  in 

*  This  flag  is  small  and  square,  and  hangs  from  a  rod  which  is 
hoisted  to  an  iron  crane,  to  give  it  play  and  spread  it  out  in 
calm  weather,  like  the  vexillum.  I  do  not  suppose  it  to  be  a 
relic  of  the  Romans,  but  rather,  that  when  the  Romans  landed, 
it  had  already  fluttered  for  a  thousand  years  on  the  leafy  sides  of 
Atlas.  It  is  called  A  lem,  and  is  hoisted  at  the  hours  of  prayer. 
On  Friday  it  is  white,  on  other  days  blue. 


OF   CEUTA.  87 

honourable  war  :  the  one  usurped,  the  other  pilfered — 
the  wrongful  possession  of  each  is  the  tenure  by  which 
the  other  is  held.  Spain  retained  Ceuta  when  she 
abandoned  Oran  as  a  set-off  to  Gibraltar,  and  England, 
who  abandoned  Tangier,  must  have  lost  Gibraltar  but 
for  the  help  of  the  Moors,  which  was  rendered  because 
Spain  occupied  Ceuta  ;  so  that,  if  Ceuta  were  not 
Spanish,  Gibraltar  would  not  be  English ;  and  if 
Gibraltar  were  not  English,  Ceuta  would  not  be  Spanish. 
The  Spaniards  lose  their  own  door-post  of  the 
Straits,  and  seize  the  post  of  their  neighbours  ;  the 
English  abandon  Tangier  (alone  of  the  Portuguese 
possessions  diverted  from  Spain),  and  seize  that  of 
the  Spaniards.  In  the  history  of  sieges,  they  both 
present  the  most  remarkable  incidents,  from  the  un- 
paralleled amount  of  power  directed  against  the 
one,  and  the  length  of  time  expended  in  attempts 
to  reduce  the  other.  Both  have  at  various  times 
exhausted  the  countries  to  which  they  belonged, 
and  the  nations  by  which  they  have  been  held. 
Ceuta  brought  on  the  fall  of  Gothic  Spain.  Gibraltar 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  war  of  the  Spanish 
Succession  ;  and  finally  the  smuggling  trade  of  Gibraltar 
furnishes  the  school  for  the  proficients  for  whom 
Ceuta  is  the  prison. 

During  the  war  the  Spanish  Government  placed 
Ceuta,  to  defend  it  from  France,  in  the  possession  of 
England.  Several  English  establishments  were  formed, 
and  considerable  sums  expended,  in  the  belief  that 
England  would  never  give  it  up  ;  but  the  immorality 


88  BUILDINGS   AND   GARDENS 

of  the  Government  had  not  then  overtaken  the  baseness 
of  the  people.  The  Moorish  Government,  however, 
thought  this  an  opportunity  of  recovering  its  own,  and 
having  furnished  supplies  to  Gibraltar,  and  to  our  fleet, 
and  corn  for  our  army  in  Spain,  conceiving  itself  en- 
titled to  some  favour,  claimed  the  restitution  of  the 
place.  The  appeal  proved  ineffectual,  although  it  was 
backed  by  the  offer  of  a  million  of  dollars.  The  Eng- 
lish Government  could  not,  as  may  be  supposed,  we]l 
urge  on  the  Spanish  Government  the  claims  of  its 
Moorish  ally.  Muley  Suleyman  expressed  the  anguish 
of  his  spirit  in  a  distich  which  might  have  suggested 
Moore's  celebrated  lines  on  Poland  : — 

"  There  is  no  faith  in  our  foe, 
There  is  no  comfort  in  our  friend." 

We  landed  within  a  mole  or  jetty  which  corresponds 
with  the  Ragged  Staff  at  Gibraltar,  thence  ascended 
by  a  stair  to  the  gate,  crossed  a  bridge,  and  found 
ourselves  on  a  lively  esplanade.  An  alley  of  trees 
opened  upwards  through  the  straggling  town,  and  a 
terrace  along  the  sea-wall  stretched  eastward  to  the 
extremity  of  the  promontory.  The  buildings  were  in 
the  Moresco  style  with  the  columned  court.  The 
arms  of  Spain  are  to  be  seen  at  Gibraltar  beside  those 
of  England — here  the  arms  of  Portugal  are  beside  those 
of  Spain.  To  the  whitewash  of  the  Spaniards  and 
the  Moors,  was  here  added  the  yellow  of  the  Portu- 
guese, running  two  or  three  feet  as  a  skirting  round 
the   court-yards,   and   along   the   streets :    everything 


OF   CEUTA.  89 

was  dazzlingly  bright,  exquisitely  clean,   and   elabo- 
rately ornamented.* 

The  streets  are  one  continuation  of  tesselated  pave- 
ment, green,  white,  and  red.  The  white  is  marble, 
the  black  a  very  dark  serpentine,  and  the  red  ancient 
tiles,  which  are  used  as  outlines  for  the  figures :  the 
gutter  is  in  the  centre,  the  pattern  running  on  each 
side  with  a  border  joining  in  the  middle.  The  run- 
ning pattern  is  a  device,  such  as  a  sprig  in  a  Tuscan 
border ;  but  here  and  there,  you  find  more  ambitious 
conceptions  —  a  snake,  a  stag,  a  ship,  a  coat-of- 
arms,  a  dog  attacking  a  bull,  and,  in  one  place,  the 
figure  of  a  man.  I  have  seen  something  of  the  kind 
in  the  garden  of  the  fortress  at  Lisbon.  There  were 
also  the  hollow  bricks  along  the  tops  of  walls  for 
flowers,  and  the  demi-flower  pots,  which  they  nail 
against  the  walls  and  houses,  converting  them  into 
perpendicular  parterres.  They  have  also  adopted  the 
Moorish  tesselated  pavements  for  the  garden  walks, 
and  yet  they  have  neglected  to  copy  that  garden 
architecture  which  I  observed  at  Kitan — halls  and 
alleys  constructed  of  a  lacework  of  reeds,  than  which 
there  is  nothing  more  beautiful ;  and  as  to  its  uses,  what 
can  be  so  well  adapted  to  the  training  of  foliage  and 
flowers,  so  fitted  to  ensure  the  luxuries  of  the  clime 
— that  is,  shade  and  air — and  to  afford  protection 
against  its  inclemency — the  sun  with  his  heat  and 
light  1 

*  I  am  told  that  where  there  are  in  Barbary  Christian  houses, 
they  are  coloured  yellow  by  means  of  copperas  water  over  the  lime. 


90  THE   ARAB   CHARACTER. 

But  the  Spaniards  here  are  as  little  in  Africa, 
as  if  they  were  in  garrison  at  St.  Juan  d'Ulloa. 
There  is  not  a  man  who  knows  the  language  of  the 
country.  They  live  like  cattle  in  a  pen,  and  spend 
their  lives  here  without  ever  having  been  without  the 
walls.  They  are  under  strict  blockade — a  vidette  on 
the  hill,  a  picket  at  the  gate.  Should  a  Moor  bring 
in  eggs,  he  has  to  steal  out  of  sight  of  his  own  sentries ; 
and  to  furnish  an  ox,  is  to  commit  a  capital  offence. 
When  the  Christians  venture  within  reach  of  the  Moors, 
they  are  shot  like  dogs  :  they  meet  only  after  des- 
patching a  flag  of  truce.  What  a  ludicrous  dispro- 
portion between  this  array  of  towers,  battlements, 
materials,  troops,  and  discipline,  and  the  half  dozen 
wild  mountaineers  in  a  reed  hut  on  the  other  side. 
It  was  said  of  the  Arabs  by  a  French  general,  "  Among 
them,  peace  cannot  be  purchased  by  victory."  Defeat 
does  not  bring  submission,  nor  hopelessness  despair, 
because  the  brain  has  not  robbed  the  heart,  nor  the 
tongue  the  brain.  They  cannot  comprehend  the 
wisdom,  that  a  fact  which  is  wrong  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  because  it  is  accomplished,  and  called  a 
fact. 

As  I  was,  some  time  before,  sailing  by  Ceuta  in  a 
bullock-boat,  from  Tetuan,  a  Spanish  sailor  called 
the  attention  of  a  young  and  delicate-looking  Moor, 
who  had  embarked  with  us  on  his  way  to  Mecca,  to 
the  Spanish  flag  flying  on  the  fortress.  The  young 
man,  who  had  scarcely  spoken  before,  seemed  absorbed 
in  grief ;  started  to  his  feet,  his  eyes  glowing  and  his 


THE   FRENCH  GOVERNMENT   OF   ALGIERS.        91 

fists  clenched,  and  roared  out  :  "  That  no  Christian, 
that  Moor  land." 

The  Government  of  Algiers  recently  projected  send- 
ing steamers  to  touch  regularly  at  the  Spanish  Pre- 
sidios to  gain  intelligence  of  what  was  going  on  in 
the  interior.  They  were  then  to  present  themselves 
in  the  Bay  of  Tangier,  commuDicate  with  the  French 
Consul,  visit  Gibraltar,  and  return  to  Algiers — a  nicely- 
devised  scheme  to  convince  the  Moor  that  a  con- 
spiracy against  them  was  on  foot,  common  to  France, 
England,  and  Spain.  But  the  French  Government  not 
having  altogether  resigned  itself  into  the  hands  of 
its  "  Algerines,"  thought  proper  to  appoint  a  superior 
officer  of  another  service  to  go  this  round  and  report 
upon  it.  The  first  place  he  called  at  was  Melilla; 
he  inquired,  "  What  news  from  Morocco  \ "  The  go- 
vernor told  him  that  he  would  be  a.ble  to  satisfy  his 
curiosity  on  the  day  following,  as  they  expected  the 
Madrid  papers.  The  French  Admiral  dined  with  the 
governor,  took  a  siesta,  Spanish  fashion,  and  had,  on 
awaking,  an  opportunity  of  judging  of  the  intercourse 
with  the  interior.  Two  or  three  Moors  got  into  an 
out-post  unobserved,  and  had  escaped  in  like  man- 
ner, leaving  behind  the  bodies  of  six  Spaniards,  but 
carrying  off  the  heads. 

The  next  morning  I  started  early  to  visit  the 
works  on  the  lines,  accompanied  by  a  merchant  of 
the  place  whom  the  governor  sent  to  me,  as  the 
person  best  qualified  to  act  as  cicerone.  Issuing 
from  the  first  gate,  we  came  on  a  drawbridge  :  below 


92  THE   FORTIFICATIONS. 

ran  the  sea  over  yellow  sand,  there  being  a  clear 
passage  by  the  ditch  from  one  side  to  the  other. 
Fishing-boats  were  splashing  round  the  sharp  angles. 
The  old  lofty  Portuguese  battlements  rose  above  us ; 
these  masses  of  building  are  enormous,  though  the 
space  of  ground  covered  is  small.  The  body  of  the 
place  from  which  we  had  emerged,  consists  of  a  cur- 
tain and  two  bastions,  three  hundred  yards  in  length, 
ninety  feet  in  height ;  the  bastion  to  the  south  car- 
rying a  second,  is  twenty  feet  higher.  As  we  pro- 
ceeded, ditch  succeeded  to  ditch,  and  battery  to 
battery.  There  are  three  lines  and  three  ditches, 
with  corresponding  demi-lunes ;  in  all  six  tiers  of 
guns.  The  basis  from  sea  to  sea  does  not  exceed 
four  hundred  yards,  and  the  radius  may  be  equal :  I 
give  the  dimensions  from  memory.  There  are  few 
guns  mounted  ;  I  counted  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
embrasures  for  guns,  and  twenty  beds  for  mortars. 
The  inner  curtain  is  completely  pitted  with  shot  and 
grape.     The  upper  works  and  merlons  are  refaced. 

Emerging  from  the  fortification,  we  began  to 
ascend  the  hill :  the  face  of  it  was  cut  into  by  level 
spaces,  the  earth  banked  up  by  stone  walls,  lining 
which,  infantry  could  level  their  pieces  up  the  hill. 
The  whole  ground  is  mined  and  traversed  by  pas- 
sages, the  roofs  of  which  project  above  the  soil  with 
loop-holes.  The  vidette  on  the  hill  pointed  out 
to  us  on  a  brow  opposite,  at  a  short  distance — but 
divided  by  a  chasm — the  Moorish  post,  a  low  shed  of 
reeds :  we  saw  no  one.     Some  fig-trees  in  the  gulley 


THE   RUINS.  93 

between,  we  were  forbidden  to  pass ;  and  he  warned 
us  to  keep  always  in  his  sight.  I  came  suddenly  on 
a  mass  of  ruins  clustering  round  eminences,  or  run- 
ning in  long  straight  lines,  castellated  and  turreted  : 
the  angles  were  fresh  and  sharp.  The  holes  left  in 
the  walls  by  the  fastenings  of  the  planks,  into  which 
the  compost  is  beaten,  gave  them  the  appearance  of 
enormous  pigeon-houses.  There  were  no  Roman 
blocks;  yet  the  style  was  Roman.  There  was  none 
of  the  massiveness  of  the  Moorish,  but  their  materials. 
There  was  more  of  the  palm-like  lightness  of  Fars 
than  of  the  troglodyte  of  ancient  or  modern  Africa. 
I  hoped  that  these  might  belong  to  some  remnants  of 
the  earlier  and  untraced  races  ;  but  a  nearer  inspec- 
tion soon  decided  that  question.  A  gate  on  the 
western  face  is  still  almost  perfect,  and  is  Moorish  ; 
yet  who  can  find  the  date  of  that  style  which  may  have 
belonged  to  the  days  of  Juba,  as  well  as  to  those  of 
Almanzor  and  Abderahman. 

My  companion  was  excessively  alarmed  when  I 
proposed  to  visit  the  ruins,  as  they  are  beyond  the 
neutral  ground.  I  endeavoured  to  relieve  him,  by 
making  a  forward  cast  through  the  brushwood.  He 
followed,  detailing  how  those  savages  would  lie  for 
hours  in  wait  for  a  shot,  and  how  a  few  days  before  a 
man  had  been  wounded  at  the  same  place.  Presently 
he  exclaimed,  "  A  Moor  !  a  Moor !  "  I  had,  however, 
for  some  time  seen  the  figure  in  a  clear  space  on  the 
opposite  brow,  wrapped  in  its  haik,  and  motionless. 
.  How  pleasing  would  it  not  be  to  find  the  original 


94  THE   OLD   MOOR    OF   SPAIN   AND 

of  some  dubiously-figured  chimera !  What  then  to 
discover  a  living  representative  of  a  race  that  has 
left  behind  it  an  undying  name  and  immortal  ruins  1 
Such  was  to  me  that  solitary  figure.  The  Assyrian 
bowed  his  back  to  the  burthen  and  his  neck  to  the 
yoke,  and  the  first  of  conquerors  became  the  meanest 
of  slaves.  The  Mede  served  in  his  turn,  and  so  the 
Persian.  The  Egyptian,  the  first  and  greatest,  became 
the  outcast  of  nations.  The  Macedonian  and  Attic 
conquerors  of  the  East  were  bondsmen  at  Rome.  The 
Roman  was  a  hewer  of  wood  and  a  drawer  of  water, 
at  the  door  of  the  Gothic  hut  and  the  Vandal  tent. 
In  all  times,  in  all  climes,  the  conquered  have  dwelt 
as  Helot  bondsman  or  slave  with  the  conqueror. 
This  wild  man,  this  Moor,  alone  has  followed  no  con- 
queror's car,  and  served  no  master's  bidding.  Van- 
quished, he  has  departed — disappearing  from  the  land 
which  ceased  to  own  him  lord.  He  has  not  by  fami- 
liarity worn  out  the  terrors  of  his  name,  nor  the 
indignation  of  his  heart ;  and  there  he  stands  to-day, 
not  yielding  to  facts  his  reason,  nor  to  fortune  his 
fate. 

But  to  compare  the  old  Moor  of  Spain  with  the 
African  Moor  of  to-day,  might  appear  like  comparing 
the  British  of  to-day  with  their  (assumed)  naked  an- 
cestors. It,  however,  seems  to  me  doubtful  whether 
the  old  light  be  all  extinct.  Look  at  the  Moor !  Is 
there  not  dignity  in  his  deportment — grandeur  in  his 
costume  i  The  produce  of  the  looms  of  Morocco  to- 
day equals  in  beauty  and  taste,  if  it  does  not  surpass, 


THE   MODERN    AFRICAN    MOOR.  95 

that  of  any  country.  At  Tetuan  the  Mosaics  are  now 
made  which  adorn  the  Alhambra.  Science  has  de- 
parted, but  is  that  an  essential  of  greatness  %  When 
a  nation  sinks  to  the  barbarism  that  follows  light,  it 
is  indifferent  to  honour  :  it  hates  itself  more  than  its 
foe  or  conqueror.     The  Moor  is  not  such.  , 

The  Moors  at  home  are  more  wedded  than  any 
Mussulman  people  to  their  usages  ;  more  fanatic,  more 
abhorrent  of  all  intercourse  with  strangers.  When 
they  come  to  Europe  they  make  themselves  at  home. 
They  are  seen  at  Gibraltar,  in  the  streets,  on  the 
battlements,  sauntering  in  the  public  walks,  as  if 
they  entirely  belonged  to  us.  The  civil  magistrate 
represents  them  as  orderly  and  peaceable  :  the  police- 
court  may  be  said  to  ignore  their  existence :  legal 
practitioners  declare  that  the  cases  of  litigation  chiefly 
arise  from  their  being  overreached.  They  are  an 
example  of  sobriety,  industry,  and  integrity.  Their 
community  at  Gibraltar  is  neither  small  nor  select, 
nor  composed  solely  of  those  in  easy  circumstances : 
they  come  and  go,  and  many  are  flying  destitute  from 
war  and  persecution.  No  one  has  heard  of  a  Moor 
being  a  drunkard,  or  a  swindler  :  no  one  doubts  a 
Moor's  word :  no  one  fears  either  his  vengeance  or 
his  ferocity. 

But  may  it  not  be  that  these  men  are  here  influ- 
enced by  European  manners  %  May  they  not,  like  the 
civilized  and  instructed  classes  of  the  Spaniards,  be 
assimilated  to  Europe  %  There  precisely  is  the  diffe- 
rence.   A  Moor,  after  spending  twenty  years  in  Eurbpe, 


96  THE    ROMANS   AT   CEUTA. 

goes  back  and  demeans  himself  as  if  he  had  never 
left  home.  They  carry  their  habits  with  them,  and  at 
Gibraltar  live  much  in  the  same  way  as  to  the  south 
of  the  Straits.  As  a  people,  they  avoid  us  more  than 
any  other,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  Japanese  :  yet,  indi- 
vidually they  have  greater  intercourse  with  us,  and  in 
a  more  familiar  manner;  because  from  the  distance 
and  the  difficulties  of  the  land  journey,  the  pilgrims 
almost  always  go  and  return  from  Egypt  in  European 
vessels. 

As  we  returned  into  town,  a  stone  nearly  the  size 
of  a  man's  head  was  shown  to  us,  by  which  the  skull 
of  the  Portuguese  commander  who  first  entered  the 
place  was,  like  that  of  Pyrrhus,  broken  by  a  woman 
from  a  tower.  A  Moorish  sovereign,  who  was  so 
wounded,  despatched  himself  like  Abimelech,  with  his 
own  sword,  to  cover  the  disgrace. 

The  Romans  at  one  time  substituted  this  place  for 
Tangier,  as  a  provincial  capital ;  yet  it  has  neither  a 
harbour  nor  road,  being  at  the  extreme  point  of  the 
land,  and  shut  out  by  a  range  of  mountains  from  a 
fertile  and  peopled  country,  while  Tangier  is  at  the 
bottom  of  a  bay,  surrounded  with  rich  lands,  and  is 
on  the  highway  from  Spain  to  Mauritania,  from  the 
ocean  to  the  interior. 

To  us  a  capital  is  different  from  what  it  was  to  the 
Romans  :  we  have  a  mass  of  organization  and  adminis- 
tration, which  requires  that  it  should  be  placed  at  the 
head  in  respect  to  the  members.  We  expect  to  find 
all  this  in  vigour  under  so  rigorous  a  government  as 


AND   THEIR   GOVERNMENT.  97 

that  of  Rome.  But  Rome  gave  herself  no  such 
trouble  ;  introduced  neither  principles,  nor  laws,  nor 
language,  nor  costume.  These  spread,  because  not 
forced.  The  field  of  administration,  down  to  her  latter 
days,  was  kept  sufficiently  clear  for  each  individual 
to  embrace  the  whole  :  the  subdivisions  of  modern 
statesmanship  and  government  were  unknown.* 

Her  judicatories  were  solely  appellant :  the  people 
were  everywhere  free  to  follow  their  own  customs, 
execute  their  own  laws,  select  their  own  magistrates, 
impose  their  own  taxes.  In  fact,  the  Romans  were 
kings  :  they  reigned,  they  did  not  administer  ;  nor 
did  they  scatter  their  strength  in  exciting  irritation 
on  every  point;  but  remained  with  a  force  collected 
to  smite  resistance  whenever  it  appeared,  and  which 
they  were  careful  never  to  provoke  by  systematic 
interference. 

Ceuta  might  thus,  cut  off  from  traffic  and  popu- 
lation, be  a  good  provincial  capital  for  those  masters 
in  the  art  of  governing  men — that  art  which,  like 
health  in  the  body  and  judgment  in  the  mind,  de- 
pends not  on  science  and  labour,  but  abstinence  and 
simplicity. 

"  *  Aristote  en  dormant  des  eloges  a  ce  gouvernement  lui  fait 
des  reproches  qui  paraissent  mal  fondes.  Le  premier  porte  sur  la 
cumulation  des  emplois.  II  est  certain  qui  cette  coutume  forma 
de  grands  hommes  dans  la  Grece,  a  Carthage,  et  a  Rome,  en  obli- 
geant  les  citoyens  a  etudier  egalement  l'art  de  la  guerre,  la  science 
de  l'administration  et  celle  des  lois,  parties  differentes  mais  qui  se 
touchent  plus  qu'on  ne  pense.  Leur  separation  dans  les  temps 
modernes  a  fait  naitre  de  dangereux  esprits  de  corps  et  de  fu- 
nestes  rivalites." — Segur,  Hist.  Univ.  Carthage,  p.  83. 

VOL.  I.  H 


98  COMPARISON   BETWEEN   THE 

The  idea  of  the  Romans  in  garrison  at  Ceuta  was 
incessantly  returning  on  me,  and  prompting  pictures 
of  the  consequences.  The  Romans  to-day  at  Ceuta 
would  be  masters  of  Africa,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Red  Sea,  as  rapidly  as  the  Saracens  were  of  Spain, 
after  showing  themselves  at  Gibraltar.  When  the 
French  first  attacked  Algiers,  the  Moors,  having  heard 
that  Europe  was  governed  by  justice  (the  justice  that 
every  one  understands),  were  ready  to  invite  them ; 
but  the  French  were  soon  found  not  to  be  Romans  : 
they  had  not  the  bath,  not  the  toga,  not  the  saluta- 
tion of  the  Roman  or  Eastern ;  they  could  in  their 
persons  command  no  respect.  In  ablutions,  tone  of 
voice,  gesture,  manner  of  eating,  disregard  of  reli- 
gious observances,**  they  could  only  excite  the  dis- 
gust of  a  Mussulman.  Very  subordinate  matters  are 
principles  of  administration,  and  forms  of  government, 
compared  to  the  cleanliness  of  the  bath,  dignity  of 
deportment,  ceremony  and  etiquette.  But  to  the 
elegance  of  costume  the  Roman  did,  however,  add 
forms  of  administration  equally  adapted,  as  his  war- 
like discipline  and  personal  habits,  to  enable  him  to 
gain  and  secure  ground  as  a  conqueror, — he  would 
have  left  the  Moor  or  the  Algerine  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  his  own  code  —  he  would  have  left  in  their 
hands  the  administration  of  their  own  laws :  he 
would  have  given  to  their  senate  the  power  of  im- 

*  Marshal  Bugeaud  published  an  order  on  attendance  at  wor- 
ship— alleging  as  a  reason  that  it  was  requisite  to  secure  the 
respect  of  the  Arabs. 


FRENCH    AND   ROMANS   IN   AFRICA.  99 

peaching  a  Bugeaud  or  a  Vallee    before   the  Senate 
of  Rome. 

When  the  Romans  possessed  that  country,  it  was 
four  or  five  times  as  populous  and  not  less  warlike  or 
stubborn  in  spirit.  For  four  hundred  years  their 
dominion  endured  with  almost  unbroken  tranquillity. 
During  that  period  it  was  the  granary  of  the  world. 
It  replenished,  not  exhausted,  the  Roman  treasures — 
it  supplied  and  did  not  drain  her  armies.  During  all 
that  time  there  was  neither  parliamentary  law,  nor 
Royal  ordinances  for  its  good  government ;  there  were 
no  scientific  commissions  to  inquire  into  its  state  ; 
there  were  no  quartos  of  statistical  information  pub- 
lished for  the  enlightenment  of  its  rulers  ;  there  was 
no  system  of  colonization,  no  project  of  enlightenment, 
Christianity,  or  civilization  ;  there  was  no  flamen  of 
Chalons,""  sacrificing  to  Mars  and  Bellona  for  success- 
ful raids  and  butcheries.  Rome  held  Africa  with 
two  legions  ;  France  began  f  with  a  half  more  than 
that  number ;  she  has  now  ten  times  as  many  :  it 
costs  her  as  much  in  outlay  as  the  Imperial  expenses 
of  the  whole  empire  under  Augustus ;  and  notwith- 
standing all    the   unfortunate   French    can    do,    the 

*  See  circular  of  the  Bishop  of  Chalons,  in  1843,  for  prayers 
of  thanksgiving. 

t  "  A  great  fact  is  written  at  full  length  at  p.  9  of  the  report : 
—  'In  1831,  the  effective  of  the  French  troops  amounted  to 
18,000  men  of  all  arms;  in  1834,  to  30,000  j  in  1838,  to  48,000; 
in  1841,  to  70,000 ;  in  1843,  to  7G,000  ;  in  1845,  to  83,000  ;  in 
1846,  to  101,000.'  Is  it  not  the  contrary  which  would  appear 
simple?     We  could  understand  having  commenced  with  101,000 

ii  2 


100        PRETEXTS  OF  FRANCE  FOR 

people  will  not  be  civilized* — and  run  away.f  In 
fourteen  years  a  European  government  has  reduced 
the  population  to  one-half.  With  ten  thousand  men 
the  Turks  managed  to  hold  Algiers,  and  to  govern  it 
in  tranquillity.  Instead  of  the  public  debt  of  a 
"  civilized"  government,  they  left  behind  a  large  trea- 
sure ;J  yet  their  troops  would  have  raised  the  con- 
tempt of  any  European  officer,  and  their  government 
that  of  every  European  politician. 

I  have  met  some  Frenchmen  who  believed  that  the 
French  went  to  put  down  piracy  :  I  know  no  English- 
man who  doubts  it.     England  attacked  Algiers  with 

men  in  Africa,  and  now  having  only  18,000  ;  but  that  we  should 
have  commenced  with  18,000  men,  to  arrive  after  fifteen  years, 
at  101,000 — is  not  this  the  most  severe  condemnation  that  could 
be  pronounced  against  the  absurd  and  false  system  which  has  been 
followed  V — La  Presse. 

*  "  De  tous  les  fleaux  que  la  France  doit  combattre  en  Algerie, 
l'ignorance  est  sans  contredit  le  plus  terrible.  Vis-a-vis  d'un 
peuple  eclaire,  un  raisonnement  juste  et  droit  produit  toujours 
un  r6sultat  avantageux,  mais  vis-a-vis  d'une  nation  barbare,  les 
paroles  sont  vaines  et  les  lecons  steriles.  Nous  sommes  obliges  de 
recourir  sans  cesse  a  la  force  pour  contraindre  les  indigenes  a 
suivre  nos  avis  et  se  penetfer  du  bien  que  nous  voulons  leur 
faire." — Les  Khouan  Ordres  Religieux  chez  les  Musulmans  de 
V Algerie,  p.  109. 

■J-  "  This  great  movement  of  emigration,  5,000  cavalry,  30,000 
foot,  and  more  than  30,000  tents,  changes  the  character  of  the 
struggle.  Abd-el-Kader  carries  off  the  population  that  we  have 
been  unable  to  organize,  administer,  or  govern." — L* Algerie. 

%  Taking  the  average  according  to  the  population  for  England 
to  be  financially  in  as  flourishing  a  condition  as  Algiers  at  the 
time  of  its  capture,  the  Treasury  (not  the  Bank)  should  contain 
£50,000,000. 


THE   OCCUPATION   OF  ALGIERS.  101 

the  view  of  putting  an  end  to  Christian  slavery,  and 
relieving  the  smaller  powers  from  the  disturbance  of 
their  Mediterranean  trade,  she  having  no  quarrel  of 
her  own  with  that  State.  She  succeeded,4'"  retired 
— kept  and  claimed  nothing. 

The  first  quarrel  between  France  and  Algiers  was 
about  a  debt  to  a  Jew  merchant  of  Algiers,  which 
France  refused  to  pay.  This  was  an  outstanding 
balance  of  eighteen  millions  of  francs,  on  the  ac- 
counts for  the  supply  of  France  with  grain  for  her 
necessities.  By  enormous  bribing  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  the  money  was  repaid  :  it  went  into  French 
pockets.  In  the  list  of  recipients  are  names  which 
may  not  astonish  a  future  age,  but  which  would  as- 
tonish this. 

The  last  quarrel  was  about  the  same  Jew  and  the 
coral  fisheries.  The  French  consul  having,  according 
to  instructions,  made  a  quarrel,f  and  excited  the  anger 
of  the  Pacha,  he  flung  towards  him  his  fan.  The  consul 
was  not  touched.  France  got  the  pretext  she  wanted 
for  not  paying  the  money,  and  pillaged  the  treasury 
of  Algiers  of  £5,000,000.  England  and  Holland, 
who,  at  their  own  cost  twenty  years  before,  had 
put  an  end  to  roving  and  to  Christian  slavery,  never- 
theless  believe   that  France  went  to  Algiers  to  put 

*  "  L'Angleterre  n'avait  elle  pas  ichoue  devant  Alger  peu 
d'annees  avant  notre  succes"—La  France  en  Afrique — Published 
under  the  auspices  of  M.  Guizot. 

f  Avowed  by  the  Due  de  Rovigo,  at  once  Minister  of  War  and 
Commander  of  the  expedition,  in  the  letter  he  published  after  the 
fall  of  Charles  X. 


102  INVASION   OF  ALGIERS 

down  piracy  and  to  spread  civilization  :  an  instance 
of  the  value  of  the  press  in  enlightened  times. 

Rome  conquered  the  warlike  west,  and  the  rich 
east,  and  possessed  the  countries  she  conquered.  The 
great  people,  lying  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  possessed 
of  unparalleled  power,  in  as  far  as  warlike  means  go, 
and  unequalled  unity,  subjugates  a  little  state  of 
pirates —  or  at  least  so  called  pirates  —  without  num- 
bers, wealth,  service,  or  literature,  and  immediately 
France  is  subjugated  by  Algiers.  I  have  heard 
Hassam  Pacha,  the  Ex-Dey  of  Algiers,  say,  "  the  bar- 
ricades of  July  have  avenged  me/'  Abd-el-kadir  in 
like  manner  sees  himself  avenged  by  the  barricades 
of  February,  Each  African  treachery  is  followed  by 
a  Parisian  revolution.  Had  it  been  Rome,  Abd-el- 
kadir  might  have  become  pro-consul,  or  like  Severus,* 
emperor  :  pro-consul  or  emperor,  he  could  have  be- 
come Roman.  But  it  is  a  modern  government :  it  is 
France  which  conquers  Algiers ;  then  the  Frenchman 
becomes  an  Algerine,  and  order  has  to  be  restored  in 
a  constitutional  state,  by  Algerine  practices. 

France,  in  putting  down  the  Algiers  of  Africa,  was 
preparing  herself  to  become  the  Algiers  of  Europe. 

With  the  same  certainty  that  Pyrrhus  foretold 
the  destruction  of  Carthage  or  Rome,  by  the  bone 
of  contention  which  Sicily  afforded,  may  the  de- 
struction of  England  or  France,  or  both,  be  prognos- 
ticated from  the  French  occupation  of  Africa.     France 

*  His  sister  could  not  speak  Latin,  and  he  was  ashamed  of  her 
Breber  tongue. 


BY   THE   FRENCH. 


103 


by  her  mismanagement  has  only  retarded  the  explo- 
sion, and  she  has  not  the  courage  to  withdraw.  Her 
invasion  of  Africa  was  as  little  her  own  purpose  or 
will,  as  the  invasion  of  Spain  in  1823.  A  foreign 
hand  planned  and  prompted  it  in  mystery  at  Ver- 
sailles, and  publicly  hailed  and  encouraged  it  from 
beyond  the  English  Channel,*  whence  alone  was  to  be 
apprehended  censure  or  dissatisfaction. 

*  "  Some  of  our  contemporaries  have  described  in  vivid  lan- 
guage, the  danger  to  the  balance  of  power,  of  the  French  posses- 
sions extended  along  the  northern  coast  of  Africa  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  give  France  the  command  of  that  important  part  of  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ;  but  we  hope  that  the  alarm  which 
exists  on  this  subject  will  not  cause  the  advantages  which  the 
civilized  world  might  reap  from  the  Algerine  expedition  to  be 
altogether  abandoned.  It  will  be  a  common  disgrace  to  Chris- 
tendom, if  the  splendid  expedition  which  has  now  sailed  for  Africa 
is  obliged,  after  giving  a  temporary  check  to  the  insolence  of  the 
pirates,  to  leave  that  quarter  of  the  world  to  barbarism,  because 
the  powers  of  Europe  are  all  envious  of  the  prosperity  of  one 
another.  *  *  *  If  the  French  expedition  succeeds,  the  for- 
mation of  establishments  on  the  coast  of  Africa  under  the  guaran- 
tee of  the  great  Powers,  to  which  all  Europeans  should  have  a 
right  to  resort,  but  with  such  privileges  secured  to  France  as 
would  repay  her  the  expense  of  the  conquest,  might  not  be  im- 
possible. At  any  rate,  we  are  convinced  that  the  present  French 
government,  whatever  its  defects  may  be,  is  not  grasping  or  dis- 
honest, and  that  a  just  arrangement  for  securing  to  Europe  col- 
lectively the  benefit  of  the  civilization  of  the  north  of  Africa, 
if  not  rendered  impracticable  by  the  jealousies  of  other  govern- 
ments, will  not  be  obstructed  by  the  ambition  of  France. 

"  We  confess  that,  considering  the  length  of  time,  &c,  we  had 
rather  see  such  a  colony  established  in  Africa,  without  any  pre- 
caution on  the  part  of  the  other  European  Powers,  than  to  see 
Algiers,  if  once  conquered,  again  abandoned  to  its  barbarous 
mien."— Globe,  May  20th,  1830. 


104         TREATMENT   OF  CRIMINALS   BY   SPAIN. 

Ceuta  is  the  great  Botany  Bay  of  the  Spaniards. 
There  were  here  recently  three  thousand  five  hundred 
convicts;  but  two  thousand  have  been  sent  off  to 
Castille  to  work  on  some  canal  there ;  those  left  are  the 
worst  class,  transported  for  not  less  than  ten  years 
and  "  retention/'  which  means  that  they  may  be  kept 
as  much  longer  as  the  governor  thinks  fit.  After  five 
years'  residence,  they  are  hired  out.  The  landlord  of 
the  cafe  where  I  stayed  gave  them,  as  a  class,  an 
excellent  character.  Inquiring  the  kind  of  crimes 
some  of  them  had  committed,  he  said,  "the  two  young 
men  who  attend  you  are  here  for  murder."  There  is 
here  a  greater  accumulation  of  malefactors  than  on  any 
other  spot  of  the  earth,  yet  you  might  lay  down  gold 
in  the  streets  with  impunity.  There  are  abundant 
facilities  for  escape ;  the  sea  is  open,  the  town  accessible 
at  every  point;  there  are  boats  all  round,  and  the  con- 
victs outnumber  the  other  population.  They  are  not, 
as  in  Gibraltar,  driven  in  gangs,  ironed,  and  with 
"  Convict "  stamped  on  every  article  of  their  dress. 
Here  they  go  about  free ;  the  watchmen  in  the  street 
at  night  are  themselves  convicts.  This  humanity  in 
the  treatment  of  convicts  extends  equally  to  slaves  : 
the  Spaniards  extend  to  them  the  protection  of  the 
laws,  giving  up  to  them  the  feast  days  ;  allow  them 
progressively  to  re-purchase  their  liberty,  and  when 
they  have  done  so,  admit  them  to  perfect  equality  of 
consideration  with  the  white  men. 

The  governor    was    no   less   interesting   than   the 
Presidio,     He  seemed  like  an  exile  of  ancient  times, 


THE   GOVERNOR   OF   CEUTA   ON    SPAIN.        105 

and  with  a  melancholy  dignity  dwelt  on  the  thought 
of  his  country.  He  had  been  several  years  an  emi- 
grant in  Europe,  without  knowing  or  choosing  to  know 
any  language  save  his  own.  He  laboured  to  assure 
me  that  many  things  that  were  done  were  not 
according  to  the  heart  of  the  nation,  and  repeated 
several  times,  "  If  I  could  go  with  you  into  the  pea- 
sants' huts,  and  make  them  speak  what  is  in  their 
minds,  you  would  have  reason  to  respect  Spain."  He 
had  been  forty-four  years  in  the  service,  and  had 
never  known  his  country,  except  suffering  from  in- 
juries inflicted  on  her  by  foreign  powers,  while  Spain 
had  done  nothing  against  any  one.  But  that  was  not 
all.  "  It  is  impossible  for  a  Spaniard  not  to  feel  that 
his  country  is  the  object  of — "  and  here  he  paused  as 
if  to  muster  courage  to  utter  the  word  "  desprecio." 
He  was  pleased  when  I  said  that  the  real  Spaniards 
were  dumb,  and  the  bastards  loquacious,  and  the 
stranger  who  wished  not  to  mistake  Spain  must  close 
his  ears.  He  asked  the  proportions  of  the  two  :  —  my 
answer  was,  as  one  and  a  half  to  ninety-eight  and  a 
half. 

"  Whoever  says  that  Spain  is  poor  or  weak,  lies. — 
Where  do  you  see  a  people  that  work  so  little,  and 
possess  so  much  \  Where  in  Europe  is  there  a  govern- 
ment so  extravagant,  or  such  a  horde  of  public  func- 
tionaries %  The  '  administrators '  in  Spain  would 
supply  France,  Germany,  and  England  put  together ; 
and  what  is  all  the  political  agitation,  except  a  scram- 
ble for  these  posts  %     We  want  no  new  laws  or  con- 


106  CONVERSATION  WITH  THE  GOVERNOR  ON 

stitutions ;  but  only  to  administer  those  that  our 
fathers  have  left  us.  One  man,  without  genius  or 
originality,  but  with  courage  and  honesty,  might  make 
Spain  the  happiest  country  in  Europe.  As  to  re- 
sources, I  say  they  are  enormous.  If  you  were 
to  put  in  one  heap  the  money  that  goes  into  the 
public  treasury,  and  in  the  other,  that  which  is  kept 
back  by  the  public  functionaries,  the  latter  would  be 
the  higher  of  the  two.  All  we  want  is  order.  Look 
at  our  army.  What  can  Europe  show  superior  in 
vigour,  endurance,  discipline,  intelligence,  or  docility  % 
Look,  too,  at  its  numbers  :  two  hundred  thousand  ! " 

I  ventured  to  dissent  on  this  last  point,  and  showed 
that  Spain  entered  on  her  war  with  France  without 
any  army,  as  on  her  war  with  England  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  previous  century.  On  both  occasions  she 
had  no  fleet.  Armies  were  requisite  to  attack,  but 
incapacitated  for  defence  :  heroic  defences  were  always 
made  by  a  people,  as  shown  in  the  contrast  of  Algeria 
with  Poland  ;  as  shown  in  the  contrast  of  Spain  with 
Germany  and  Italy,  which  had  all  bowed  before 
Napoleon :  Spain's  strength  appeared  after  army, 
king,  government,  had  been  swept  away  ;  she  was  the 
only  country  in  Europe  whose  people  did  not  want 
soldiers  to  protect  them,   &c. 

I  observed  that  Spain  stood  in  an  anomalous  posi- 
tion. Unlike  a  secondary  state,  she  had  nothing 
to  apprehend  on  the  score  of  her  independence ; 
unlike  a  first-rate  one,  she  was  engaged  in  no  schemes 
against  the  independence  of  other  people  :    that  an 


THE   AFFAIRS   OF  SPAIN.  107 

army  in   Spain  was   consequently  as  needless  as  it 
was  noxious. 

He  replied,  that  what  I  said  did  not  apply  spe- 
cially to  Spain,  and  might  be  predicated  of  the  whole 
of  Europe  ;  to  which  I  readily  assented.  His  Spanish 
self-love,  for  a  moment  alarmed,  was  soothed  when  I 
showed  him  that  I  was  as  adverse  to  standing  armies 
for  the  internal  interest  of  the  great  and  preponderat- 
ing States,  as  he  could  be,  because  of  the  facilities 
which  it  gave  them  of  interfering  with  and  oppressing 
the  others.  I  pointed  to  this,  as  the  master-disease 
of  our  times,  and  as  signalized  as  such  even  in  the  last 
century,  by  some  of  the  greatest  men  ;  that  it  feeds, 
as  Montesquieu  says,  upon  itself,  growing  by  competi- 
tion ;  and  that,  independently  of  their  misuse,  stand- 
ing armies  by  their  pressure  must  ultimately  bring 
every  one  of  the  existing  European  States  to  the 
ground. 

Spain,  separated  by  the  Pyrenees  from  the  rest  of 
Europe,  as  she  is  distinct  from  them  in  ideas,  could 
easily  relieve  herself;  she  had  fewer  obstacles  to 
contend  with  than  any  other  State,  except  England. 
Our  whole  parliamentary  history  had  been  a  struggle 
of  patriotic  men  against  standing  armies  and  funded 
debt.  He  himself  had  admitted,  that  one  honest  man 
might  restore  Spain ;  and  how  so,  unless  there  were 
great  abuses  in  practice  which  had  not  degenerated 
into  principle  1  He  had  particularized  the  armies  of 
functionaries ;  let  him  add  to  these  this  horde  of  two 
hundred  thousand  regulars. 


108  CARDINAL   ALBERONI   ON 

"  Where  is  the  man,"  he  said,  "  to  do  it  ?  "  I  ob- 
served, that  it  could  only  be  by  seeing  and  showing 
what  was  wrong,  that  the  man  could  ever  be  made  or 
found  to  put  it  right. 

This  conversation  was  strikingly  recalled  to  me  by 
a  book,  entitled  "Political  Testament  of  Cardinal 
Alberoni,"  which,  on  my  return,  I  found  at  a  stall. 
I  turned  over  the  pages  with  extreme  curiosity,  to 
see  if  it  presented  any  stamp  of  authenticity.  One 
of  the  first  sentences  I  fell  upon  was  the  following  : 

"  It  is  an  error  of  this  and  the  preceding  century 
to  think  that  the  strength  of  a  nation  consists  in 
the  large  number  of  regular  forces  kept  on  foot. 
To  be  convinced  of  the  falsity  of  this  notion,  we 
have  only  to  cast  an  eye  on  the  wars  of  Europe 
within  these  four  or  five  hundred  years.  As  soon 
as  an  army  is  beaten  on  the  frontier,  the  prince, 
whose  troops  are  vanquished,  has  no  other  resource 
left  but  to  clap  up  a  peace  :  his  country  lies  open 
to  the  enemy,  and  he  has  only  cowardly  burghers 
and  disheartened  peasants  to  oppose  to  veteran  sol- 
diers. He  loses  a  whole  province  as  soon  as  the  capital 
of  it  surrenders.  He  is  reduced  to  bury  himself  under 
the  ruins  of  his  throne,  or  to  comply  with  the  con- 
ditions prescribed  by  the  conqueror. 

"But  when  princes  undertook  only  to  lead  their 
people  in  defending  their  country,  they  reckoned  as 
many  soldiers  as  subjects  :  the  whole  state  was  a 
frontier  against  the  enemy,  who  were  sure  to  meet 
with  opposition  so  long  as  they  fought  to   conquer. 


THE   TRUE   DEFENCE   OF   A   NATION.  109 

Every  inch  of  ground  was  disputed.  When  a  city 
or  town  surrendered,  after  repeated  assaults,  it  did 
not  capitulate  for  the  other  towns  within  its  juris- 
diction. Every  borough,  every  village  cost  a  siege. 
So  long  as  a  prince  kept  but  a  corner  of  his  country, 
he  might  hope  to  drive  the  enemy  from  what  they 
possessed,  and  to  recover  all  he  had  lost.  The  most 
powerful  prince  in  Europe  was  dreaded  only  as  his 
ambition  might  give  disturbance  and  uneasiness  to  his 
neighbours.  They  were  sure  that  time  would  impair 
his  strength,  like  a  body  worn  out  by  too  frequent 
attrition. 

"  The  difference  between  the  reigns  of  Charles  VI. 
and  Louis  XIV.,  in  France,  shows  this  contrast  in  its 
full  light.  The  King  of  England  was  then  master  of 
the  finest  provinces  in  France,  quiet  possessor  of  its 
principal  cities,  and  crowned  at  Paris ;  while  his 
adversary,  though  reduced  to  the  single  lordship  of 
Bourges,  was  able  to  hold  out  against  him.  Louis 
XIV.  sees  a  frontier  province  invaded  by  two  of  the 
enemy's  generals  ;  he  offers,  at  St.  Gertrudenberg,  the 
fruit  of  twenty  victories,  to  persuade  them  to  retire. 
His  kingdom  is  still  untouched  :  millions  of  his  sub- 
jects have  not  so  much  as  heard  the  sound  of  the 
enemy's  cannon,  and  yet  he  does  not  think  himself 
able  to  make  a  stand  against  seventy  or  eighty  thou- 
sand men.  He  has  not  as  yet  lost  one  battle  on  his 
ancient  territories  ;  nevertheless,  he  thinks  that  no- 
thing more  remains  for  him  than  to  die  gloriously, 
pushed  on  by  temerity  and  despair.     The  enemy  is 


110  SAGACITY   OF   THE   VIEWS 

still  two  days'  journey  from  the  frontier,  which  this 
kingdom  had  at  the  time  when  Philip  Augustus  with- 
stood and  triumphed  over  the  joint  efforts  of  all 
Europe  ;  and  Louis  the  Great  believes  it  impossible 
to  hinder  the  enemy  from  making  a  conquest  of  his 
kingdom.  Though  he  has  a  country  two  hundred 
leagues  in  extent  behind  him,  above  a  hundred  on 
each  side  of  him,  yet  he  does  not  think  this  sufficient 
to  secure  him  an  honourable  retreat.  Jandrecy  and 
Quenoy  determine  the  fate  of  France.  Valenciennes 
and  Dunquerque,  Arras,  Amiens,  Cambrai,  Maubeuge 
and  so  many  other  strong-holds,  which  his  predeces- 
sors either  never  possessed,  or,  if  they  did,  afterwards 
resigned,  without  imagining  they  weakened  thereby 
their  throne  ;  all  these  places,  I  say,  to  him  appear  as 
of  no  sort  of  use,  because  he  has  no  regular  troops  to 
defend  them. 

"  If  the  land  forces  of  Spain  had  been  upon  this 
footing  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the 
nation  would  have  beheld  with  as  much  security  as 
contempt,  the  combination  of  the  Courts  of  Vienna 
and  London  to  impose  a  master  upon  her,  and  to 
divide  her  possessions.  With  the  advantages  in  regard 
to  war,  which  this  kingdom  has  even  from  nature,  it 
might  have  bidden  defiance  to  France  herself  con- 
spiring with  the  other  Powers,  to  oblige  her  to  submit 
to  the  treaty  of  partition." 

It  was  quite  intelligible  to  me  now,  that  three  great 
rival  nations  should  concert  to  banish  Alberoni  from 
the  counsels  of  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.     He  had 


OF  CARDINAL   ALBERONI.  Ill 

penetrated  to  the  Gothic  foundations  of  the  society  of 
the  peninsula,  and  had  ascended  to  those  Gothic 
pinnacles,  from  which  he  could  survey  the  littleness 
of  his  contemporaries.  He  foresaw  in  the  event  of  a 
general  military  despotism,  the  possibility  of  Europe's 
being  recovered  by  the  latent  energy  of  the  Spanish 
people,  and  the  ultimate  range  of  his  provision  and 
prophecy  was  Southern  and  Western  Europe  quelled, 
and  its  rivalries  composed  by  the  intrusion  of  the  two 
northern  powers,  Prussia  and  Russia. 

He  was  above  the  arts  of  government,  and  knew 
where  the  greatness  of  his  adopted  country  resided. 
He  scouted  acquisitions  as  a  source  of  splendour  to 
the  state,  or  patronage  as  a  means  of  strength  to  the 
government. 

The  great  men  of  the  period  attained  by  peculiar 
powers  the  management  of  men;  but  there  is  not 
one  whose  words  time  has  undertaken  to  confirm. 
Where  is  Richelieu's  management ;  Colbert's  finance  ; 
where  are  Fleury's  devices  ;  or  Louis  le  Grand's  victo- 
ries? They  have  vanished  with  the  fortunes  they 
created,  and  have  left  us  such  instruction  only  as  we 
may  derive  from  the  cell  of  a  culprit,  or  the  fragments 
of  a  column. 

Those  who  have  prognosticated  one  among  a  thou- 
sand events,  have  been  held  wise  in  their  generation. 
Alberoni  has  traced  out  before  the  event  the  salient 
features  of  the  European  system,  as  if  he  were  describ- 
ing it  now.  He  foresaw  the  failure  of  all  the  en- 
deavours of  the  Bourbon  courts  to   restore  the  Pre- 


112  PRESCIENCE   OF 

tender.  He  warned  them  that  their  fleets  would 
fail  against  England,  told  them  that*  "  cruisers  "  were 
the  only  effectual  arm  with  which  to  assail  her  com- 
mercial greatness,  laughed  at  their  projects  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men  in  arms  in  the  Highlands,  or  in 
Ireland,  and  recommended  as  a  surer  recipe  for  ruining 
England,  the  securing  "  Ten  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  with  a  few  Peers  of  note"  He  pointed 
to  the  sagacity  of  William  III.,  who  had  established 
his  throne  by  the  then  bold  but  well-considered 
measure  of  plunging  the  country  in  war,  and  loading 
it  with  debt. 

He  furnishes  a  parallel  to  Talleyrand,  both  driven 
from  office  by  a  combination  of  foreign  powers  ;f 
but  all  Europe  feared  the  Cardinal  of  Parma,  Russia 
alone  feared  the  ex-bishop  of  Autun. 

Spain,  in  the  selection  of  public  servants,  to  a 
certain  degree  imitated  Rome,  and  resembled  Russia. 
She  did  not  think,  that,  to  insure  fidelity  and  autho- 
rity, it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be  her  own 
nobles  and  chief  men,  as  in  the  case  of  all  modern 
European  governments.     Spain  owed  perhaps  to  the 

*  This  idea  has  presented  itself  within  the  last  few  years,  and 
prompted  our  present  precautionary  measures. 

t  The  Allies  remitted  to  France  100,000,000  as  the  price  of 
the  removal  of  Talleyrand  from  the  Foreign  Office,  he  having 
been  the  originator  of  the  Quadruple  Treaty,  secret  but  defensive, 
of  England,  France,  Austria,  and  Sweden,  against  the  two  aggres- 
sive and  military  governments  of  the  North.  Napoleon,  on  his 
return  from  Elba,  found  the  treaty  and  sent  it  to  St.  Petersburg. 
Genz  subsequently  published  it.  It  is  the  epitome  of  Europe  in 
the  19th  century. 


CARDINAL   ALBERONI.  113 

caprice  of  her  monarchs,  a  facility  which  Rome  pos- 
sessed by  the  comprehensive  nature  of  her  institu- 
tions. Rome,  however,  so  dignified  the  nations  only 
that  she  had  already  incorporated ;  Russia,  the  sub- 
jects of  the  state  she  purposes  to  acquire. 


VOL.  I. 


114  THE   IMAUM   OF 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CEUTA. — BOMBARDMENT  OF  TANGIER. 

Turning  the  corner  of  a  street,  I  saw  a  Moor 
walking  familiarly  along,  as  if  he  were  quite  at  home. 
I  was  just  as  much  surprised  as  if  I  had  seen  a  wolf 
sauntering  in  the  midst  of  a  sheep-fold,  or  a  sheep  in 
the  midst  of  a  flock  of  wolves.  I  saluted  him,  and  he 
replied  in  pure  Castilian.  I  found  it  was  the  Imaum 
of  a  community  of — I  suppose  I  must  call  them — Sara- 
cens, who  having  been  settled  at  Oran  when  it  was 
under  the  Spanish  government  had,  on  the  abandon- 
ment of  that  place,  fifty-two  years  ago,  been  transferred 
to  Ceuta.  He  proposed  to  me  to  come  in  the  evening 
and  take  tea  with  his  wife  and  daughters.  He  con- 
ducted me  into  a  meson  corral,  that  is,  a  court  or 
enclosure,  which  may  be  described  either  as  the  centre 
of  one  house  or  as  a  court  common  to  several.  This 
was  the  quarter  of  the  Moors,  who  amounted  to  five 
families.  They  have  all  a  small  pension  from  the 
government,  and  the  men  are  in  the  military  service. 
He  led  me  into  his  own  house,  which  was  a  strange 
mixture  of  Africa  and  Europe,  but  orderly  and  clean 
to  fastidiousness.  The  women  were  in  Spanish 
dresses,  with  head  and  neck  bare. 


A   MUSSULMAN   COMMUNITY.  115 

This  was  the  first  time  I  had  seen  a  Mussulman  com- 
munity resident  for  a  period  of  time  in  the  midst  of 
a  Christian  people ;  so  that,  of  course,  I  was  soon 
engaged  in  a  minute  investigation  of  their  social, 
religious,  and  domestic  habits.  Under  this  scrutiny 
the  Imaum  soon  began  to  wince,  and  the  women 
affected — but  very  awkwardly — to  laugh.  The  glibness 
with  which  they  had  commenced  the  conversation  had 
vanished  before  I  suspected  the  cause,  —  they  took 
me  for  a  Mussulman  in  disguise,  who  had  come  to 
pry  into  the  nakedness  of  the  land.  They  do  practise 
the  Abdest.  They  profess  to  keep  the  Eamazan  (it  is 
at  this  moment  Ramazan).  They  have  no  bath  and 
no  mosque ;  but  maintained  that  the  mosque  at  the 
Moorish  head-quarters,  to  which  they  sometimes  go, 
is  within  the  prescribed  distance.  One  native  prac- 
tice they  had  preserved  in  its  pristine  vigour,  and 
that  was  the  kouskouson,  with  which  they  present- 
ed me,  and  to  which  we  all  did  justice.  "When  I 
had  succeeded  in  convincing  them  that  I  was  no 
Mussulman,  their  hilarity  returned,  and  they  were 
much  amused  at  the  description  of  my  surprise  at 
finding  in  Europe,  Christian  women  muffled  up,  and 
meeting  in  Africa,  Mussulman  women  with  naked 
shoulders. 

The  Imaum  then  gave  me  the  detail  of  a  dispute 
about  the  neutral  ground,  which  raged  at  the  very 
moment  of  the  French  bombardment  of  Tangier, 
and  which  had  been  adjusted  through  the  interven- 
tion  of  England — by  leaving  things    exactly   where 

i2 


116  MR.  HAY,  THE   BRITISH   CONSUL. 

they  were !  An  act  of  greater  insanity  there  could 
not  be  than  our  interference  in  any  such  matter. 
It  is  impossible  to  preserve  Gibraltar  without  the 
goodwill  either  of  Spain  or  of  Morocco,  because  our 
subsistence  must  be  drawn  either  from  the  one  or  the 
other  country.  When  we  are  with  Spain  the  Moors 
are  against  us  ;  but  then  we  do  not  need  them  :  when 
we  are  against  Spain,  then  we  are  sure  to  have  the 
Moors  with  us. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  Lord  Nelson's  words, — 
"  Should  Great  Britain  be  at  war  with  any  European 
maritime  state,  Morocco  must  be  friendly  to  us,  or 
else  we  must  obtain  possession  of  Tangier. "  Lord 
Nelson  did  not,  however,  see  that  the  measure  he  pro- 
posed for  obtaining  that  aid,  would  have  had  the 
opposite  effect.  If  you  seized  Tangier  you  would 
place  yourselves  in  the  same  position  in  respect  to 
Morocco  that  Spain  is  at  Ceuta,  and  be  under  a  total 
inability  of  gaining  the  means  of  subsistence  either 
from  Morocco  or  Spain,  for  Tangier  or  Gibraltar.  This 
judgment  of  Lord  Nelson,  thus  reduced  to  its  true 
application,  is  of  the  greatest  importance. 

The  old  man  was  loud  in  praise  of  Mr.  Hay's 
proficiency  in  Arabic,  and  he  smiled  and  winked  when 
I  said  that  I  could  wish  nothing  better  for  England 
than  that  its  servants  should  be  dumb.  The  Algerine 
government  lately  assigned  this  very  reason,  —  pro- 
ficiency in  the  Arabic — for  appointing  one  of  their 
creatures  as  consul  at  Tangier  :  a  member  of  the 
home  government  answered  that  that  was  the   very 


MR.  HAY   AND   "THE   ROCK."  117 

reason  why  he  was  the  person  least  qualified.  But 
Algiers  has  triumphed  over  Paris. 

The  wind  seemed  settled  from  the  westward,  so  I 
determined  to  return  to  Gibraltar  to  catch  the  steamer 
from  England,  and  on  the  following  morning  bade 
adieu  to  this  fancy  warehouse  of  guns  and  convicts 
—  this  military  toy-shop  and  Utopian  penal  settle- 
ment. 

Just  as  we  were  getting  into  the  current,  we  sprung 
our  gaff,  and  were  fortunately  yet  near  enough  to 
the  African  shore  to  regain  it.  We  anchored  and 
repaired  the  damage  out  of  musket-shot.  Had  this 
accident  happened  an  hour  afterwards,  we  should  pro- 
bably not  have  seen  Gibraltar  for  a  week. 

As  soon  as  we  got  put  to  rights  and  had  the  Rock 
"on  again,"  three  points  under  our  lee-bow,  I  asked 
one  of  the  idlers  to  read  something  out  of  Mr.  Hay's 
"  Barbary,"  and  he  commenced  with  this  passage. 
"  And  that  famous  Rock  has  always  been  a  hotbed  for 
engendering  mischievous  reports  which,  if  connected 
in  any  way  with  Morocco,  are  sure  to  find  their  way 
over  the  Straits  and  thence  to  the  court  at  Morocco  in 
an  exaggerated  and  distorted  form."* 

There  is  no  escape  from  this  Rock,  which,  like  that 
of  the  Arabian  Nights,  is  ever  attracting  and  wrecking 
you.  The  first  thing  I  heard  of  at  the  beginning  of 
this  excursion,  was  the  exasperation  produced  in  Spain 
by  the  sinking  of  their  cruiser,  and  the  subsequent 
discussion  respecting  the  rebuilding  of  the  forts  of  St. 

*  "  Western  Barbary,"  p.  16/5. 


118  SIR  ROBERT  WILSON   ASf 

Philip  and  St.  Barbara.  I  had  learnt  these  circum- 
stances through  official  persons,  I  was  now  come  to 
the  other  side  of  the  water.  Here  again  from  an 
official  person,  and  this  time  in  a  published  book, 
breaks  out  the  disgust  and  irritation  engendered  in 
Morocco. 

Common  fame  represents  the  governor  of  Gibraltar 
as  having  been  engaged  without  measure  or  disguise,  in 
embroiling  the  French  and  the  Moors.  He  and  the 
ambassador  from  Madrid  took  the  extraordinary  step 
of  landing  in  Morocco  at  the  moment  when  the 
appearance  of  any  intermeddling  on  their  part  was 
exactly  the  thing  to  drive  matters  to  extremity :  they 
publicly  held  out  encouragement  to  the  Moors.  The 
government  at  home  has  declared  itself  most  formally 
in  an  opposite  sense,  and  the  foreign  minister  is  a 
man  whose  word  no  one  ever  doubted.  The  only 
conclusion,  therefore,  is  that  the  cabinet  is  not  in 
the  confidence  of  its  agents.  It  stands  to  reason  that 
in  affairs  carried  on  in  secret,  the  acting  hand  will 
be  the  one  which  is  not  seen. 

Former  governors  of  this  place  have  managed  their 
own  garrison  and  fort  without  distracting  Spain  or 
Morocco  ;  this  governor,  then,  must  have  been  selected 
for  the  work  he  has  performed.  The  qualifications 
and  antecedents  required  are  those  of  a  soldier.  Out 
of  all  the  army,  one  only  could  be  selected  on  whom 
had  been  inflicted  the  penalty  of  professional  disgrace 
for  heading  a  mob  against  his  sovereign's  troops  : — that 
one  was   selected.     The  selection  was  the  subject  of 


GOVERNOR   OF   GIBRALTAR.  119 

astonishment,  and  it  was  felt  by  the  service  to  be  an 
insult.  It  was  indeed  inconceivable  that  a  man  who 
had  been  in  his  own  person  guilty  of  the  greatest 
outrage  upon  discipline,  should  have  been  chosen  for 
the  command  of  the  most  military  garrison  in  Europe, 
so  as  to  exhibit  to  every  youth  who  commences  his 
military  career  in  the  garrison, — and  every  regiment 
takes  its  turn, — that  mutiny"  is  compatible  with  the 
highest  honours,  and  is  even  the  road  to  preferment. 
This  outrage  upon  discipline  was  perpetrated  by  the 
head  of  the  British  army,  and  the  strictest  of  discipli- 
narians. 

In  1817  there  was  a  pamphlet  published  which,  with 
equal  ability  and  foresight,  exposed  the  great  error 
which  had  been  committed  at  the  congress  of  Vienna, 
in  looking  to  France  as  the  power  from  which  future 
danger  would  emanate.  In  that  pamphlet  it  was 
shown  that  by  an  undue  depression  of  France  the 
future  peace  of  Europe  was  placed  in  jeopardy :  its  text 
and  conclusion  was,  "Alexander  has  inherited  Europe 
from  Napoleon!' 

The  author  of  this  pamphlet  had  henceforth  to  be 
classed  amongst  the  men  peculiarly  deserving  the 
attention  of  the  Russian  cabinet.  He  is  that  governor, 
selected,  in  defiance  of  all  decency,  to  send  to  Gibraltar, 
and  there  overstepping  the  limits  of  his  functions,  he 
nearly  embroils  England  and  France. 

A  Russian  steam-vessel  of  war  was  admitted  to  the 
quay  of  her  Majesty's  vessels  to  get  coal,  which  was 
furnished   her   from  the   royal  stores,    while   French 


120  ACCOUNT   OF  THE 

men-of-war  were  allowed  no  such  indulgence  ;  on  de- 
parting she  was  saluted  by  the  fortress,  with  twenty- 
one  guns!*  This  I  witnessed  with  my  own  eyes  and 
heard  with  my  own  ears.  The  assembled  crowd  said, 
"  Es  loco," — "  He  is  mad."  A  foreign  consul,  the  next 
day,  used  these  words,  "Now  this  appointment  is 
explained."  f 

I  may  here  set  down  some  matters  connected  with 
the  recent  land  and  sea  raid  of  the  French  in  Morocco; 
but,  like  the  father  of  history,  I  will  give  what  I  have 
heard  without  vouching  for  it. 

BOMBARDMENT   OF    TANGIER. 

On  the  2d  of  August,  1844,  Mr.  Hay  received  the 
submission  of  the  Sultan  to  the  demands  of  France. 
On  the  5th,  the  intelligence  arrived  at  Tangier.  A 
telegraphic  despatch  dated  that  day,  reached  Paris  on 
the  11th,  and  the  peace  with  Morocco  was  officially 
announced.  But  five  days  before — that  is,  on  the 
6  th — Tangier  had  been  bombarded  ! 

So   far   the    dates.      The    change   of  dispositions 

*  In  answer  to  the  comments  to  which  the  circumstance  gave 
rise,  it  was  stated  "  from  the  Convent,"  that  the  reason  why  the 
Russian  was  saluted  first,  was  that  as  it  was  near  sunset,  the  fort 
would  not  have  had  time  to  return  the  salute,  if  it  had  waited 
till  she  had  saluted  first. 

t  Since  the  above  was  written,  Sir  R.  Wilson  has  disappeared 
from  this  scene.  I  do  not  on  that  account  suppress  what  I  have 
written,  as  I  have  not  brought  any  charge  against  him  ;  and  his 
acts  here  commented  upon,  are  viewed  merely  as  illustrative  of 
the  system  of  government  by  secrecy  and  intrigue. 


BOMBARDMENT   OF  TANGIER.  121 

between  the  5th  and  6th,  was  brought  about  by  the 
arrival  of  letters  from  Paris  after  the  intelligence 
from  Tangier  had  been  despatched.  The  command- 
ers of  the  squadron,  to  their  great  disappointment, 
were  informed  on  the  5th,  that  they  would  presently 
receive  orders  to  make  sail  for  Toulon,  and  had  re- 
paired on  board  their  respective  ships,  when  the  smoke 
of  a  steamer  was  perceived  coming  through  the  Straits. 
It  was  successively  made  out  that  she  was  standing 
in  for  Tangier,  that  she  was  French,  a  man-of-war,  and 
the  bearer  of  despatches.  The  negotiations  with  Mo- 
rocco had  been  in  the  hands  of  M.  de  Nion,  who  had 
acted  in  concert  with  Mr.  Hay.  It  was  in  consequence 
of  an  agreement  entered  into,  reduced  to  writing  and 
signed  between  them,  that  Mr.  Hay  proceeded  to  Fez, 
and  had  there  settled  the  matter  between  France  and 
Morocco.*  The  Prince  de  Joinville,  irritated  by  the 
interference  of  the  English  authorities  (the  ambassador 
from  Madrid,  and  the  Governor  from  Gibraltar),  was 
prevented  from  breaking  up  the  settlement  only  by 
want  of  powers,  M.  de  Nion  being  charged  with  the 
diplomatic  post.  The  steamer  brought  three  des- 
patches, one  from  the  King,  one  from  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  one  from  the  Minister  of  Marine. 
The  first  had  no  reference  to  the  business  in  hand  ; 
the  second  left  it  just  where  it  was  ;  the  third  was 
upon  a  simple  matter  of  administration  {Anglice,  de- 

*  The  days  of  Mr.  Hay  are  said  to  have  been  shortened  by  the 
vexation  to  which  these  transactions  exposed  him. 


122       PRINCE   DE   JOINVILLE   AND   M.  DE   NION. 

tail  of  service)  ;  but  there  was  a  postscript  in  these 
terms : — 

"  I  suppose,  if  you  have  not  been  satisfied  with  the 
answer,  you  will  have  bombarded" 

The  Prince  declared  the  question  to  be  now  in  his 
hands.  This  letter  was  addressed  to  him,  not  to  M.  de 
Nion.  He  had  to  be  satisfied,  and  if  not,  might 
bombard — he  was  not  satisfied,  and  would  bombard. 
M.  de  Nion  objected  the  engagement  with  Mr.  Hay, 
the  peace  made,  &c.  The  Prince  replied  that  the 
Caid  of  Tangier  had  not  answered  his  letter !  In  a 
word,  the  affair  was  fixed  to  come  off  next  morning. 

The  Prince  selected  the  Jemappe  as  the  most  pow- 
erful vessel  to  place  before  the  batteries,  expecting 
that  it  would  have  to  bear  the  whole  fire  of  the  place, 
while  the  other  vessels  were  taking  up  their  stations. 
Not  a  shot,  however,  was  fired  by  the  Moors  until 
the  French  were  in  order  and  had  opened  their  fire. 
It  was  just  as  at  Navarino. 

At  Tangier,  of  course,  on  the  night  of  the  5th,  all 
anxiety  had  ceased ;  peace  was  considered  concluded, 
and  three  boat-loads  of  fresh  provisions  had  been  sent 
off  to  the  squadron  by  the  Caid."* 

THE   BATTLE   OF    ISLY. 

The  son  of  the  Emperor  had  exchanged  letters 
with  Marshal  Bugeaud  during  the  first  days  of 
August :   both  spoke   of  peace,    and   only   of  peace. 

*  I  afterwards  ascertained  at  Paris  that  the  Prince  had  paid 
the  Jew  interpreter  for  these  provisions ! 


THE   BATTLE   OF   ISLY.  123 

Letters  from  the  Emperor  of  a  prior  date  to  the  2d  — 
afterwards  taken — breathe  nothing  but  peace;  they 
announce  that  peace  is  about  to  be  made,  and  he 
enjoins  his  son  not  to  leave  till  all  is  finally  settled, 
and  to  do  everything  that  could  be  agreeable  to  the 
French.  On  the  11th,  the  intelligence  arrived  that 
peace  had  been  concluded :  then  arrived  an  aide-de- 
camp of  Marshal  Soult  at  the  French  camp  with 
letters  from  the  government  in  Paris,  enjoining  the 
Marshal  to  abstain  from  all  offensive  measures,  and 
inclosing  a  letter  from  Lord  Aberdeen  to  M.  Guizot, 
which  stated  that  in  that  event  he  could  not  answer 
for  the  consequences.  The  Marshal  threw  the  letter 
upon  the  ground  and  stamped  upon  it,  and  taking 
the  aide-de-camp  by  the  arm,  said  "M.  de  V.  vous 
en  serez." 

On  the  14th  the  son  of  the  Sultan  is  awakened 
by  an  alarm,  "  The  French  army  is  in  sight"  He 
tells  his  people  the  Marshal  is  coming  to  pay  him 
a  visit  before  his  departure,  and  after  giving  orders 
for  a  tent  to  be  pitched,  and  coffee — which  he  knew 
the  French  liked  —  to  be  sought  for  and  prepared, 
he  again  assumed,  to  use  the  phraseology  of  An  tar, 
"the  attitude  of  repose."  He  is  again  awakened — 
"  The  French  are  on  us" — and  the  French  were  on 
them— found  the  coffee  ready,  and  instead  of  drink- 
ing, spilt  it.  The  loss  of  the  Moors  was  eight  hundred 
men  by  suffocation. 

While  the  Emperor  had  every  wish  to  make  peace, 
and   every  dread   of  war,  the  troops  had    no  dispo- 


124  PEACE   BETWEEN 

sition  to  fight.  The  Ai  Tata  (fifteen  thousand)  and 
several  other  tribes,  their  best  cavalry,  had  drawn 
apart,  having  come  to  observe,  not  to  act.  They 
had  formally  announced  to  the  Sultan,  that  if  he 
prosecuted  his  present  system  of  intercourse  with 
Europeans,  and  of  commercial  monopoly,  they  would 
reserve  their  strength  to  defend  their  own  mountains. 
The  French  government,  in  like  manner,  had  every 
disposition  to  make  peace,  and  every  reason  to  avoid 
war.  Its  dread  was  not  Morocco,  but  Algiers  :  its 
interests  were  bound  up  with  Morocco  against  the 
military  colonial  usurpation  that  defied  the  power 
of  the  cabinet,  and  threatened  the  institutions  of  the 
country.  Consequently,  after  intelligence  received 
of  the  victory  of  Isly,  of  the  bombardment  of  Tan- 
gier,*   and    with    the    certainty  that  Mogadore  was 

*  These  events  are  recorded  in  a  composition  which  itself  is 
worthy  of  a  place  in  history. 

"The  Governor  of  all  the  French  lands  in  the  Pacific  Sea, 
grand  Speaker  of  the  King  of  the  French  near  the  King-Lady  of 
the  Isles  of  the  Society. 

"  To  all  the  chiefs  and  all  the  men  of  all  the  lands  of  the 
Society. 

Friends, 

M  Health  to  you  all !  Here  is  the  word  which  I  say  to  all. 
Two  grand  battles  were  gained  by  the  arms  of  the  King  Louis 
Philippe,  the  protector  of  you  all  and  the  sovereign  of  us ;  the 
one  on  land  and  the  other  below  on  sea.  In  the  battle  on  land 
forty  thousand  soldiers  of  the  kingdom  of  Morocco  were  beaten 
by  ten  thousand  French  soldiers  \  the  son  of  the  King  of  this  land 
of  Morocco  was  the  grand  chief  of  all  his  soldiers. 

"  At  the  other  battle  two  cities  were  ravaged  by  the  cannonade 


FRANCE   AND   MOROCCO.  125 

at  the  time  also  bombarded,  the  instructions  were 
despatched  for  the  treaty  signed  at  Tangier  on  the 
10th  September,  by  which  nothing  was  demanded 
more  than  had  been  settled  before.* 

of  the  French  vessels  of  war  commanded  by  the  son  of  the  King 
Louis  Philippe,  Prince  Henry  de  Joinville,  French  Admiral. 
And  in  the  great  consternation  of  the  enemy,  peace  was  asked 
for  by  him.  Eight  hundred  men  of  Morocco  were  killed,  and  two 
thousand  and  above  that,  wounded,  and  the  enemy  lost  all  their 
land-guns  (cannons)  which  were  taken.  And  a  glorious  treaty 
for  the  French  was  concluded  immediately  after  on  this  land. 

"  Here  is  another  word. 

"  The  King  Lady  of  Britain  came  to  France  some  moons  ago. 

"  And  after  that  our  King,  the  Protector  of  you  all,  went  into 
Britain  to  visit  Victoria. 

"  There  were  great  honours  done  to  those  Kings  in  France 
and  in  Britain ;  and  the  two  governments  breathe  well — the  one 
for  the  other. 

"  That  is  the  true  word  which  I  make  known  to  you  all,  that 
you  may  not  be  deceived  by  lying  words. 

"  Bruat." 

"Papaeta,  11th  March,  1845. 

*  A  very  singular  denouement  well  nigh  occurred; — that  of 
referring  the  whole  matter  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  :  this  was 
prevented  by  an  accident.  When  I  asked  who  had  suggested  this 
idea,  I  was  answered  "  It  came  from  Gibraltar." 


126  DESCRIPTION   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CADIZ. 

Oct.  22nd. 

A  Moorish  house  is  a  square,  with  blind  walls  out- 
side, and  a  court  within.  A  corridor,  sustained  by 
pillars,  runs  round,  and  affords  an  opening  and  light 
to  the  rooms  :  the  court  is  paved  with  marble,  or 
is  in  mosaics,  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  family. 
From  this  type  the  domestic  architecture  of  Cadiz 
is  derived.  The  soil  upon  which  the  city  stands  is 
occupied  with  those  square  blocks  fitted  one  against 
the  other,  leaving  no  patch  vacant.  There  is  no- 
thing that  is  not  house  or  street.  The  houses, 
however,  have  windows  on  that  side  which  faces 
the  street.  The  roofs  are  flat,  terraced,  parapeted, 
and  surmounted  by  square  towers,  sometimes  three 
stories  high.  These  roofs  are  the  basse  cour.  There 
the  poultry  is  kept,  the  washing,  and  all  dirty  work 
done,  and  the  linen  hung  out  to  dry.  *  Here 
the  inmates  ascend,  in  the  summer  evenings,  to 
enjoy  the  breeze,  and  in  the  winter  days  to  bask  in 
the  sun.     Above  the  sounds  and  bustle  of  the  city, 

*  It  is  hung  up  wet  for  two  reasons ; — not  to  strain  it  by 
wringing,  and  to  bleach  it  better. 


HOUSES   AT   CADIZ.  127 

amid  airy  terraces,  which,  but  for  the  want  of  water, 
might  rival  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon,  looking 
out  on  the  bright  sea,  and  down  and  around  on  the 
shining  city,  the  Gaditanas  walk,  converse,  and 
observe  their  neighbours  similarly  employed  on  the 
neighbouring  battlements.  As  the  houses  adjoin,  they 
are  cut  off  from  each  other  by  parapets.  Otherwise, 
the  means  of  communication  above  would  be  nearly 
as  complete  as  in  the  deep  cuts  of  the  streets  that 
divide  the  masses.  But  to  see  Cadiz,  you  must  ascend 
one  of  her  towers,*  in  the  still  night,  and  under  the 
moon. 

The  aspect  from  below  is  scarcely  less  striking. 
The  streets  are  very  narrow :  to  exclude  the  sun,  the 
houses  are  constructed  to  keep  out  the  heat.  From 
every  window  projects  an  iron  cage  (reja)  or  balcony — 
many  of  these  glazed  round,  and  resembling  an  oriel 
window.  These  verandas  are  filled  with  flowers,  or 
shrouded  in  a  mantle  of  ivy.  The  building  is  relieved 
by  the  gayest  colours — bright  sea-green,  red,  and 
yellow.  The  iron  work  is  green.  The  houses  are 
separated,  as  also  the  floors,  by  lines  of  red  :  a  narrow 

*  Such  were  the  outlooks,  or  Distegia,  which  were  placed  on 
the  terraces  of  the  Greeks ;  from  such  a  one  (fxeXddpiov  eg  Stripes 
io\cnov)  Antigone,  in  that  beautiful  episode  which  has  been 
imitated  in  "  Ivanhoe,"  viewed  the  Pelasgian  host,  drawn  up  near 
the  fountain  of  Dirce.  These  were,  and  are,  distinguished  from 
the  terraces  roofed  with  tiles.  The  Tuilleries  of  Athens  were 
not  for  the  common  roofs,  but  for  the  Distegia,  or  double  roofs, 
and  for  the  temples.  In  Morocco  also  the  mosques  are  tiled, 
and  with  gable  roofs,  while  the  houses  are  flat. 


128  HOUSES   IN   CADIZ. 

border  of  yellow  runs  round  the  base  of  each  balcony, 
and  of  the  houses.  There  is  no  more  charming, 
urban  sight,  than  that  presented  in  looking  down  the 
narrow  streets.  The  verandas  approach  from  the 
opposite  sides,  with  their  lively  colours,  their  shrubs, 
and  flowers.  Everything  is  fresh,  and  clean,  and 
bright,  as  if  just  from  the  workman's  hands.  Within, 
white  reigns  alone,  above,  and  around.  As  you  pass 
by,  you  have  a  succession  of  glimpses  into  the  co- 
lumned patios,  neat,  bright,  and  shiny,  embellished 
with  plants,  flowers,  and  fountains.  * 

The  doorways  are  grand  and  beautiful,  and  resemble 
the  portals  of  cathedrals,  rather  than  the  entrances 
to  dwelling-houses.  In  the  larger  houses  the  doors 
are  made  of  slabs  of  shining  mahogany,  studded  with 
knobs  of  brass.  The  lintels  and  architraves  are  orna- 
mented and  carved  with  an  elaboration  and  a  variety 
that  afford  constant  occupation  to  the  stranger  in  his 
walks.  The  Gate  belongs,  of  course,  to  the  land  of 
the  Caravan.  It  is  the  place  of  welcome,  and  its 
grandeur  is  the  sign  of  hospitality.  The  threshold 
passed,  you  are  in  the  midst  of  the  dwelling  ;  for  the 
patio  is  the  hall — the  hall,  as  of  ancient  days — not  the 
mere  passage  to  the  dining-room,  and  the  receptacle 
of  hats  and  walking-canes.     We  cannot  imagine  com- 

*  Prescott,  speaking  of  Cordova,  says — "  The  streets  are  repre- 
sented to  have  been  narrow';  many  of  the  houses  lofty,  with  tur- 
rets of  curiously-wrought  larch  or  marble,  and  with  cornices  of 
shining  metal  that  glittered  like  stars  through  the  dark  foliage  of 
the  orange  groves,  and  the  whole  is  compared  to  an  enamelled 
vase  sparkling  with  hyacinths  and  emeralds." 


THE   CATHEDRAL.  129 

fort  in  a  court  open  to  the  heavens,  or  elegance  in  a 
room  with  no  windows  in  the  walls.  New  experience 
awaits  us  here  :  when  marble  is  exchanged  for  brick, 
and  the  sun  takes  the  place  of  fog,  shade  is  comfort, 
and  damp  luxury. 

The  Spanish  portal  acquired  a  dignity  rather  Chi- 
nese than  Moorish,  from  the  escutcheon.  At  Valez 
Malaga  I  was  shown  the  built-up  door  in  the  man- 
sion of  a  noble,  who,  being  ordered  to  take  down 
his  arms  from  his  door,  built  up  the  entrance,  leav- 
ing the  arms,  and  struck  out  a  hole  in  the  wall 
beside  it. 

The  cathedral  is  a  graceful  and  original  modern 
building.  There  is  a  great  falling  off  in  the  parts 
recently  completed.  From  its  top  there  is  a  splendid 
view  of  the  sea-girt  city,  the  bay,  and  the  surrounding 
lands.  It  is  all  marble,  and  the  roof  shelves  off  from 
the  cupola  to  the  edge  without  parapet,  so  that  you 
look  out  on  the  sea.  In  winter  the  spray  passes  over 
the  building,  so  that  it  well  merits  its  arms,— a  cross 
standing  on  the  water. 

In  the  sacristy  there  were  five  large  marble  reser- 
voirs, with  the  syphon  of  a  fountain  over  them,  for  the 
priests  to  wash  at.  My  gratification  in  recognising 
this  relic  will  be  intelligible  only  to  those  among 
Eastern  travellers,  who  have  conformed  to  the  manners 
of  the  country,  and  known  the  secret  of  washing  with 
running  water ;  and  the  disgust  and  aversion  that 
are  inspired  by  our  dabbling  in  a  basin  full  of  dirty 
water.     Yet  the  practice  can  only  have  disappeared 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  THE   MOORISH   CASTLE   AND   RUINS. 

within  two  generations.  *  The  Russians  still  wash  in 
this  way.  This  usage,  however  interesting  as  a  relic, 
is  not  fruitful  as  a  practice.  The  Spaniards  are  not 
a  cleanly  people  :  in  their  struggle  of  seven  centuries 
with  their  washing  and  bathing  foes,  they  placed  their  - 
patriotism  on  the  side  of  filth. 

From  the  top  of  the  cathedral  I  had  observed  some 
old  ruins,  and  a  circular  tower,  that  looked  Roman. 
It  was  the  Moorish  castle,  and  afforded  me  the  oppor- 
tunity of  verifying  a  point  which  previously  had 
been  to  me  doubtful.  These  ruins  are  so  built  on, 
and  so  covered  up,  that  it  is  difficult  to  trace  them  ; 
but  I  made  out  Moorish  walls,  with  square  stones 
joined  with  lime.  It  has  been  a  small  castle  stand- 
ing by  itself,  opposite  the  water-gate  of  the  town, 
and  not  part  of  a  circuit  of  walls.  One  round  tower 
still  stands,  about  forty  feet  high.  There  is  a  portion 
of  wall  exposed,  of  between  thirty  and  forty  feet  in 
thickness,  in  stone  and  lime.  The  chamber  in  the 
principal  tower  is,  like  all  those  in  Moorish  towers, 
neatly  arched  and  ornamented.  The  staircase  is  in 
the  substance  of  the  wall,  not  in  the  centre  of  the 
tower. 

At  Porta  St.  Maria,  opposite  Cadiz,  I  found  a  similar 
Moorish  ruin.  This  is  the  point  of  embarkation  of 
Xeres,  or  the  Port  of  Sherry.  It  is  the  place  for  tast- 
ing wines, — the  Pacharete,  Montillado,  and  most  noble 

*  In  a  picture  by  Holbein,  a  girl  is  represented  washing  her 
hands :  an  attendant  pours  the  water  as  in  the  East. 


BURIAL-PLACES   AND    SCHOOLS   IN   CADIZ.       131 

Mansanilla.  The  cellars  are  worth  seeing — if  spacious 
and  lofty  edifices  can  be  so  called. 

The  people  of  Cadiz  neither  put  their  bodies  in 
graves  nor  their  wines  in  cellars  :  the  dead  are  built 
up  in  walls,  resembling  bins  of  a  wine-cellar ;  their 
wines  are  deposited  in  structures  like  cathedrals.  The 
niches  are  like  the  dwellings  of  the  living,  some  for 
ever  and  a  day,  others  for  a  term  of  years;  after 
which  the  fragments  of  the  former  tenant  are  ejected, 
and  the  place  swept  clean  for  another. 

I  observed,  on  a  placard,  the  two  following  signs 
of  progress  and  civilization,  in  titles  of  new  works  : 
"The  defender  of  the  fair  sex,"  and  "The  Ass,  a 
beastly  periodical/'  The  words  were,  "  II  Burro,  peri- 
odico  bestial." 

.  You  may  see  a  long  row  of  boys,  very  small  at  one 
end  and  full  grown  at  the  other,  dressed  out  in  the 
sprucest  and  gayest  uniforms — blue  coat,  single  breast- 
ed, with  standing  collar  and  large  flaps ;  gold  buttons 
and  lace  ;  white  trousers  most  mathematically  cut,  and 
strapped  down  on  very  camp-like  boots;  and,  on  in- 
quiring what  military  institution  this  belongs  to,  you 
are  answered,  "  It  is  a  boarding-school  !  " 

They  have,  in  connection  with  schools,  a  practice 
which  might  suit  "  Modern  Athens"  —  I  mean  the 
hyperborean  one.  A  person  from  each  school  goes  the 
round  of  the  town,  calling  for  the  boys  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  dropping  them  in  the  evening ;  just  as  sheep, 
goats,  or  cows  are  collected  by  a  common  herd. 

The  "  Ilospicio  "  is  at  once  a  Poor-house,  a  house  of 

k2 


132       THE   CHURCH   OF   ST.  PHTLIPPO   NEGRI. 

Industry,  a  School,  a  Foundling  Hospital,  a  Hospital, 
and  a  Mad-house  ; — that  is,  it  supplies  the  places  of 
all  these  Institutions.  It  is  imposing  in  its  form, 
embellished  in  its  interior,  and  as  unlike,  in  all  its 
attributes  and  effects,  as  anything  can  be,  to  the 
edifices  consecrated  to  the  remedying  of  human  misery, 
by  our  own  charity  and  wisdom. 

The  church  of  St.  Philippo  Negri  deserves  a  visit. 
It  is  a  lofty  oval  hall.  The  altar  is  in  a  deep  recess, 
and  two  narrow  galleries  run  round  it  at  a  considerable 
height.  In  this  church,  in  a  back  street  of  an  out- 
post almost  cut  off  from  Spain,  some  unknown  and 
self-designated  politicians  wove,  in  1812,  out  of  the 
threads  of  the  philosophy  of  France,  a  tissue  which 
was  to  clothe  the  nakedness  of  Spain,  and  to  rege- 
nerate her.  At  that  moment  she  was  engaged  in  a 
desperate  war  with  France.  By  those  very  doctrines 
her  despot  trampled  on  the  liberties  of  France,  and 
then  converted  her  into  the  slavish  instrument  of  his 
evil  passions  and  lawless  purposes  against  Spain. 
Up  to  the  time  when  this  constitution  was  pro- 
claimed, faction,  which  had  divided  and  distracted, 
for  a  century  and  a  half,  the  other  countries  of 
Europe,  had  still  in  Spain  been  unknown. 

St.  Philippo  is  thus  a  spot  associated  with  greatness 
— but  greatness  of  an  easy  kind.  It  is  easier  to  kill  a 
camel  than — sometimes— to  catch  a  flea. 

Cadiz,  Oct.  26th. 
I  made  an  excursion  yesterday,  in  a  Calesa,  to  the 
mainland,  or  rather,  to  the  Isla  St.  Leon,  which  adjoins 


SALT-PANS    OF   THE    ISLA   ST.  LEON.  133 

it.  After  travelling  about  four  miles  along  the  narrow 
ridge  of  sand  that  joins  Cadiz  to  the  main,  you  turn 
to  the  left,  round  the  bottom  of  the  bay,  and  enter 
on  the  salt  pans,  which  extend  throughout  the  Isla. 
There  were  ditches,  tanks,  and  reservoirs,  cut  out 
in  all  shapes  and  dimensions.  Heaps  of  salt  were 
scattered  about  like  pyramids ;  some,  twenty  feet  high. 
I  expected  to  obtain  data  respecting  the  evaporation 
of  the  Mediterranean,  but  was  disappointed  :  neither 
is  the  water  allowed  to  deposit  in  one  place,  nor 
are  there  successive  fillings  of  water  into  the  same 
basin  before  the  salt  is  made.  In  either  case,  the 
rate  of  evaporation  would  have  been  furnished  exactly; 
but  the  water  passes  through  successive  pans,  becom- 
ing more  and  more  charged  as  it  advances  to  the  inner 
tanks,  where  the  crystallization  is  ultimately  effected, 
—  a  process  even  then  attended  with  difficulty.* 
There  are,  in  the  Isla,  twelve  government  and  seventy- 
two  private  works ;  the  produce  of  the  first  is  12,000, 
of  the  other,  40,000  lasts.  The  cost  is  six  quarts  the 
Fanega ;  it  is  sold  at  fifty-two  reals.  The  salt  made 
at  the  private  works  is  for  exportation,  and  is  taken 
off  by  the  English,  Americans,  and  French. 

These  and  the  other  salt-works  of  Galicia,  the 
Asturias,  &c,  are  farmed  for  12,000,000  reals,  by  a 
singular  adventurer  of  the  court  and  the  exchange, — 
M.  Salamanca. 

The  observatory  at  St.  Fernando  is,  of  course,  like 
all   observatories ;  and,   being  built  to   look   at  the 

*  In  England  a  bit  of  butter  is  used. 


134     ST.  PETRI   AND  THE  ATLAS   OF   HERCULES. 

heavens,  affords  a  good  view  of  the  earth.  From  the 
top  of  it  I  inspected  this  labyrinth.  There  was,  in 
front,  Cadiz,  hanging  by  its  narrow  isthmus.  The  Isla 
de  Leon  is  a  low  marsh,  which  forms  the  bottom  of  the 
bay.  In  the  island  is  St.  Fernando,  situated  on  broken 
ground.  I  could  trace  the  salt  river  from  its  source, 
or  mouth,  in  the  sea,  to  its  other  source,  or  mouth,  in 
the  bay.  At  the  sea-entrance,  I  could  distinguish  the 
small  island  or  knoll  of  St.  Petri.  Here  stood  the 
Altars  of  Hercules.  It  was  to  visit  this  spot  that 
I  had  started  from  Cadiz  ;  and  finding  it  impracticable, 
from  the  time  of  day  and  the  roughness  of  the  weather, 
I  had,  with  great  reluctance,  given  up  the  project.  It 
was  some  compensation  to  see,  at  least,  the  spot.  An 
antique  bridge  joins  the  Isla  to  the  mainland  :  it  stands 
about  half-way  between  the  bay  and  the  sea.  It  was 
rather  a  causeway,  with  arches,  than  a  bridge,  and  was 
said  to  be  Phoenician. 

At  Cadiz,  one  is  in  the  midst  of  a  town,  and  the 
very  type  and  essence  of  towns.  The  eye  has  no 
scope,  and  the  mind  no  sight,  for  anything  but  itself. 
It  is  impossible  to  think  of  it  as  Gades,  or  to  recall 
Circe's  smile,  or  Cerberus'  growl ;  but  here  I  reco- 
vered myself,  and  yielded  to  the  intoxication  which, 
on  certain  spots,  the  mists  of  past  things  produce. 
Cadiz  did  again  become  Gades.  Behind  appeared, 
on  the  side  of  a  hill,  or  rather,  close  to  its  summit, 
Medina  Sidonia,  recalling,  in  one  name,  the  Phoeni- 
cian and  the  Moor.  The  salt  marshes  could  be  trans- 
muted to  the  ancient  groves    and   gardens,   by   the 


THE   TEMPLE. — ITS   FOUNDERS.  135 

aid    of  some    palm-trees  scattered   over  the   broken 
ground. 

But    that  islet,  now   shrouded  by  the  spray  from 
an  easterly  storm,  with  its  temple,  where  Hannibal 
offered  sacrifice  before  departing  to  live  on  Italy  for 
fourteen  years — where  Caesar  was  fired  with  the  love  of 
the  purple,  by  the  sight  of  the  statue  of  the  victor  of 
Darius — was  the  magnet  of  the  scene.     Who   built 
this  temple  ?     What  was  it  %     The  temple  of  Phoe- 
nicians,— of  idolaters  %  yet  idols  were  excluded.    There 
was  a  sacrifice,  but  not  to  idols ;  there  was  an  altar, 
but  no  groves  or  high  places.     Wines  were  forbidden, 
which   were  not   forbidden  in   Phoenicia   or   Egypt. 
Women  were  excluded  from  the  sacrifices ;  the  sacred 
flame  was  kept  burning;  the  priests  served  barefoot. 
When  they  entered,  their  faces  were  veiled,  and  their 
heads  covered  with  white  linen.    This,   then,  was  a 
temple    of   the    Hebrews,    and    not    of    idolaters.  f 
Amongst  the  dwellers  in  Canaan,  there  were  those 
who  had  preserved  primeval  light,  and  are  called  in 
scripture   "  worshippers  of  the  true  God."      Balaam 
was  a  prophet,  and  the  book  of  the  Arab  Job  is  one 
of  the  books  of  Scripture. 

From  St.  Fernando  I  could  command  the  field 
where  Tarik  triumphed,  and  where  Roderick  fell. 
The  sudden  extinction  of  the  Gothic  empire  has  led 
to  the  inference  that  it  was  rotten  :  the  valour  with 

*  Herodotus  (ii.  46.  145)  mentions  one  tribe  of  the  Pelasgi 
who  had  no  images,  and  worshipped  one  supreme  God,  whose 
name  they  never  pronounced. 


136  THE   GOTHS   IN   SPAIN. 

which  that  field  was  contested  forbids  that  conclusion. 
The  factions,  and  the  contests  for  the  crown  amongst 
the  Goths,  differed  little  from  those  amongst  the 
Saracens ;  the  people  were  not  divided,  and  had  lost 
nothing  of  their  valour  and  their  warlike  spirit.*  The 
Arabs  triumphed  in  Spain  in  like  manner  as  Islamism 
did  in  Africa.  The  Goths  were  not  the  only  inhabi- 
tants ;  the  original  population  was  still  in  existence, 
and  identified  with  that  of  Hispania  Transfretana. 
To  these  the  Saracens  were  deliverers,  not  invaders. 
They  were  invited  over  by  the  Jews,  a  numerous,  and 
then  a  warlike  people,  preserving  many  ties  with  the 
Arab  population  of  both  countries,  and  forming  the 
link  between  them  and  the  old  Iberians.  It  is  not 
extraordinary  that  there  should  have  been  native 
Spaniards  in  the  armies  of  the  Goths,  without  the  fact 
being  recorded.  So  uncertain  are  all  our  data,  that 
it  is  disputed  whether  Count  Julian  was  a  Mussulman 
or  a  Christian  ;  whether  Tarik  was  a  Breber,  a  Persian, 
or  an  Arab.  In  periods  nearer  to  our  own,  when 
European  literature  flourished,  omissions  and  mistakes 
of  a  similar  kind  are  not  uncommon.  For  instance, 
at  the  battle  of  Angora  the  contest,  as  it  is  sup- 
posed, was  between  the  Turks  and  the  Tartars ;  but 
the  body  of  the  troops  of  Bajazet  were  neither  Turks 
nor  Mussulmans,  but  Servians. 

The  association  of  the  people  of  Spain  with  those  of 

*  Muza  when  questioned  by  the  Kalif  as  to  the  character  of 
the  different  people  of  the  West,  says  of  the  Goths,  "  They  are 
champions  who  do  not  turn  the  back  on  the  foe." 


BATTLE    OF   THE   GUADALETE.  137 

Mauritania,  while  both  were  Christians,  is  further  esta- 
blished bj  the  use  of  Arabic  in  the  old  Spanish  church. 
It  is  recorded  with  wonder  that  their  works  on  theo- 
logy were  in  that  tongue,  and  that  a  large  proportion 
of  its  priesthood  knew  no  other.  This  Arabic  lite- 
rature dates  from  a  time  anterior  to  the  Arab 
conquest.  It  was  from  Africa  that  Spain  received 
Christianity.  But  modern  Spanish  writers  would  be 
careful  to  conceal  or  disguise  the  early  association  of 
Spain  with  the  people  and  the  system  against  which 
raged  their  fanaticism.  It  is  the  suppression  of  all 
this  that  has  made  the  conquest  of  the  Arabs  appear 
like  a  fable. 

Cardonne  estimates,  at  the  battle  of  the  Guadalete, 
the  Goths  at  100,000,  and  the  Arabs  at  12,000. 
Gibbon  makes  the  Arabs  less.  Another  writer  says  : 
— "  It  was  no  longer  the  terrible  Goths,  whose  valour 
had  overthrown  the  Roman  empire,  that  had  pene- 
trated from  the  shores  of  the  Euxine  to  those  of  the 
Atlantic.  The  youth,  enervated  with  peace  and  lux- 
ury, had  abandoned  the  exercise  of  arms.  The  chiefs, 
impelled  by  jealousy,  revenge,  or  ambition,  betrayed 
their  monarch  to  those  who  sought  his  ruin."  And 
presently  we  have,  — "  The  two  armies  fought  long 
and  with  equal  ardour.  The  uncertain  victory  was 
decided  in  favour  of  the  Mussulmans  by  a  horrible 
treason.  Opas,  Archbishop  of  Seville,  collecting  his 
vassals,  joined  the  ranks  of  the  Mussulmans  and 
attacked  the  Christians.  The  Spaniards  were  imme- 
diately broken,"  &c. 


138  REFLECTIONS  ARISING   OUT   OF 

How  could  there  be  a  struggle  in  an  open  country 
by  12,000  against  100,000,  where  arms  and  courage 
were  equal — where  both  were  warlike  ?  The  Goths 
were  engaged  in  continual  warfare  between  them- 
selves ;  they  were  making  incursions  into  France  ; 
they  were  at  the  very  time  masters,  by  recent 
triumphs,  of  the  sea,  and  possessors  until  that  very 
year,  of  strong  places  in  Africa,  whence  they  were 
carrying  on  aggressive  war  against  the  Moors !  We 
have  therefore  to  look  for  some  other  cause  than 
the  effeminacy  of  the  one,  and  the  valour  of  the 
other.  Count  Julian  could  put  the  Moors  in  posses- 
sion of  Ceuta,  and  in  joining  them  draw  all  his  ad- 
herents with  him, — the  Archbishop  of  Seville  could 
quit  the  camp  with  all  his  followers,  a  fact  which 
has  no  parallel,  and  join  the  invading  Mussulman  : 
— there  existed,  then,  links  between  the  two  people 
not  to  be  found  in  the  romances  of  the  Spanish 
writers,  or  in  the  phrases  of  Gibbon.  Thus,  the 
enterprise  ceases  to  be  a  fable,  and  regains  its  just 
station  as  one  of  the  most  hardy  and  successful  of 
human  achievements. 

In  speaking  of  the  burning,  by  Cortes,  of  his  vessels 
on  the  coast  of  Mexico,  Robertson  remarks  :  —  "  Thus, 
by  an  act  of  magnanimity  to  which  history  offers  no- 
thing to  be  compared,  did  500  men  consent  to  shut 
themselves  up  in  a  hostile  land,  covered  with  nations 
numerous  and  unknown,  and  after  destroying  their 
means  of  retreat,  remained  with  no  other  resource  than 
their  valour  and  their  perseverance."    He  forgot  horses, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  GUADALETE.     139 

gunpowder,  and  artillery.  But  the  Spaniards  in  the 
New  World  only  repeated  the  lesson  they  had  learnt 
from  the  Moors  in  the  Old,  and  the  Moors  only  repeated 
what  the  Sicilian  Agathocles  had  already  performed 
in  his  wonderful  home-thrust  against  Carthage.  The 
Moorish  chief,  at  the  head  of  7,000,  or — as  Gibbon 
makes  them — 5000  men,  sent,  Scipio-like,  to  invade 
the  powerful  and  warlike  peninsula  (that  was  itself 
invading  Africa),  adopted  the  same  expedient,  and 
induced  his  more  numerous  followers,  in  face  of  a 
far  greater  danger,  to  submit  to  the  same  alternative. 
They  burnt  their  vessels  in  the  port  of  Gibraltar. 
They  thus  cut  off  their  retreat,  in  case  of  a  repulse,  as 
effectually  as  if  the  whole  Atlantic  spread  between 
them  and  their  native  land.  The  address  of  Tarik 
to  his  followers  was, — "  The  enemy  is  before  you,  the 
sea  is  behind, — follow  me." 

After  the  victory,  the  Moors,  instead  of  advancing, 
as  in  a  hostile  country,  dispersed,  as  after  the  defeat 
of  a  usurper,  to  take  possession.  One  body  marched 
upon  Ecija,  a  strongly-fortified  place ;  the  whole 
population  perished  in  the  defence,  or  after  the  cap- 
ture :  another  upon  Corduba ;  it  was  surrendered 
by  the  inhabitants ;  the  governor  of  the  garrison, 
however,  preferred  death  to  submission.  Another  body 
took  possession  of  Granada  ;  Tarik  himself  marched 
on  the  capital,  Toledo.  All  these  places  made  sepa- 
rate capitulations,  and  preserved  the  exercise  of  their 
religion  :  they  were  to  pay  only  such  taxes  as  were 
paid  to  their  kings  ;  they  were  to  preserve  their  laws, 


140        THE  GOTHS  AND  SARACENS 

and  their  magistrates.  The  churches  were  generally 
divided  between  the  Mussulman  and  the  Christian. 
The  same  conditions,  excepting  double  tribute,  were 
granted  to  the  cities  that  made  the  most  desperate 
resistance.  It  was  on  a  system  that  they  acted,  and 
not  upon  emergency — by  a  rule,  and  not  according  to 
circumstances  or  expediency.* 

The  valour  of  the  Goths  was  desperate  and  self- 
devoted.  The  division  of  the  churches  between  the  two 
religions  shows  the  rapidity  with  which  conversion  ac- 
companied, or  rather  had  prepared,  their  triumph.  The 
Goths  were  originally  but  an  army  that  entered  Spain, 
to  protect  its  inhabitants.  When  Spain  afterwards 
recovered  herself  from  the  Saracens,  she  was  alto- 
gether Gothic,  with  no  trace  of  the  old  population, 
except  in  the  Basque  provinces,  where  neither  the 
Goths  had  penetrated  before,  nor  did  the  Saracens 
after.  The  remainder  of  the  original — that  is,  the 
Iberian  —  population  had,  therefore,  become  Mus- 
sulmans. 

*  "  Thing  incomprehensible  !  History  shows  us  the  Arabs  as 
the  least  exacting,  the  least  cruel  of  all  conquerors.  They  have 
shown  the  example  of  those  peaceful  conquests,  which  we  recom- 
mend to  the  governments  of  the  nineteenth  century.  By  the 
capitulations  which  the  earliest  Arab  chiefs  granted  to  the 
Christians  of  Spain,  these  last  retained  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion.  This  toleration,  scrupulously  respected,  facilitated  and 
rendered  more  prompt  the  reconciliation  of  the  two  people. 
Ocba,  Gehrarben-Muhamad,  Youzef,  have  left,  in  the  Spanish 
chronicles,  written  even  by  the  Christians,  the  most  touching 
instances  of  tolerance,  justice,  and  magnanimity." — La  France  en 
Afrique,  p.  17. 


IN   SPAIN.  141 

Here  was  exposed  the  imbecility  of  the  supposition 
that  Islamism  was  propagated  by  the  sword.  It  was 
Islamism  that  aided  the  conquests  of  the  Saracens. 
Its  force  lay  in  applying  the  dictates  of  religion 
directly  as  a  restraint  upon  the  conduct  of  govern- 
ment, rendering  the  king,  as  well  as  his  humblest 
vassal,  equally  subjects  of  the  law. 

Within  a  few  months  from  the  battle  of  Guadalete, 
the  Moorish  troops  had  passed  beyond  the  Pyrenees, 
and  were  encamped  at  Carcassone.  There  the  tide  of 
victory  was  arrested,  not  by  the  hammer  of  Martel, 
but  by  orders  from  Damascus.  It  was  the  project 
of  the  Saracen  chief  to  conquer  France,  and  thence 
to  march  to  the  attack  of  the  Greek  empire  in  the 
rear.  When  the  Saracens  did  invade  France,  it  was 
after  the  generation  of  conquerors  had  passed  away 
—  when  France  was  recovering  from  the  lethargy  of 
her  Merovingian  race,  and  when  a  schism  had  been 
established  between  Spain  and  the  Caliphate. 

The  empire  established  by  this  victory  is  the  most 
remarkable  instance  of  prosperity  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  The  town  of  Corduba  contained  200,000 
houses ;  in  its  public  library  there  were  600,000 
volumes.  It  had  900  public  baths.  On  the  banks 
of  the  Guadalquivir  there  were  12,000  villages ;  and 
such  were  the  fruits  they  drew  from  the  soil,  such 
the  profits  of  their  industry,  which  furnished  to  the 
East  luxuries  and  arms,  that  the  public  revenue  of 
Spain  in  the  tenth  century  was  equal  to  the  collective 
revenues  of  all  the  other  kings  of  Europe.     Twelve 


142     EXPLOITS  OF  ALFONZO  THE  SAGE. 

millions  of  dinars — a  sum  of  gold  which,  calculating 
the  dinar  at  10s.,  and  multiplying  by  ten,  to  give 
the  difference  of  the  value  of  gold,  is  equal  to 
£60,000,000  of  our  present  money. 

Five  centuries  and  a  half  later,  this  plain  was 
again  the  theatre  of  great  events :  the  Christian 
principalities  had  again  regained  strength,  the  Mus- 
sulmans expending  themselves  in  internal  wars  in 
Spain,  and  between  the  Peninsula  and  Morocco.  The 
battle  of  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa  had  taken  place.  St. 
Ferdinand  had  entered  their  capital  and  taken  Se- 
ville, when  the  elevation  of  his  son  Alfonso  the  Sage 
— but  in  his  early  years  designated  the  Brave — to  the 
crown  of  Castile,  gave  promise  of  a  speedy  emancipa- 
tion of  the  Peninsula,  aided  as  he  was  by  the  valiant 
James  of  Aragon,  who  had  successfully  contested  against 
them  no  less  than  thirty  fields. 

Alfonso  retook  from  the  Mussulmans,  Xeres  and  all 
the  surrounding  towns  ;  but,  very  soon  absorbed  in  the 
vain  expectation  of  becoming  Emperor  of  Germany, 
and  less  successful  than  his  successor,  Charles  V.,  or 
England's  candidate  for  the  Spanish  crown,  Charles  VI., 
he  squandered  the  means  of  his  subjects  in  a  project 
that  was  hateful  to  them  ;  lost  the  time  and  the  occa- 
sion of  following  up  his  successes,  and  brought  upon 
Spain  new  dangers  from  Africa.  This  was  the  first 
time  that  Spain  appeared  influencing  the  relations  of 
Europe,  and  mingling  in  its  councils.  Squandering 
her  treasures  to  sway  the  elections  of  Frankfort,  and 
moving  Africa  by  his  intrigues  in  Germany,  the  sue- 


HEROISM   OF   DON   GARCIA   DI   GOMEZ.         143 

cessful  competitor  was  Rudolph,  the  founder  of  the 
imperial  house  of  Austria. 

Xeres  was  soon  retaken  by  the  Moors ;  and  on  that 
occasion,  a  Spanish  commander  distinguished  himself 
by  a  trait  of  heroism  not  less  signal  than  that,  the 
memory  of  which  is  preserved  at  Tarifa.  The  soldiers 
on  the  wall  having  all  fallen,  the  governor,  Don  Garcia 
di  Gomez,  maintained  the  place  alone,  and  refused  to 
surrender,  though  himself  covered  with  wounds  :  the 
Moors,  struck  with  admiration,  determined  to  preserve 
his  life  in  spite  of  himself ;  lifted  him  off  the  wall  with 
hooks,  and  then  cured  him  of  his  wounds. 

I  found  the  astronomer  at  the  observatory,  M.  de 
Sercera,  a  person  no  less  interesting  in  his  general 
conversation  than  distinguished  for  his  scientific  ac- 
quirements ;  and  I  received  from  him  and  from  others 
some  most  unexpected  information  respecting  a  recent 
event  which  has  had  most  important  consequences  for 
Europe.  I  refer  to  the  revolt  of  the  Isla  de  Leon,  and 
the  proclamation  there  of  the  Constitution  of  1812, 
on  the  1st  January,  1820.  It  appears  that  the  plot 
was  undisguisedly  conducted  by  Russia ;  that  the  Bailiff 
de   Tatischeff/* — then   the  representative   of  Russia 

*  This  diplomatist  was  subsequently  removed,  on  the  appli- 
cation of  Ferdinand  to  the  Emperor  Alexander,  through  Capo 
D'Istrias.  The  king  wrote  these  words  :  *  I,  who  appear  to  be 
King  of  Spain,  am  only  the  servant  (criado)  of  the  Baile  de 
TatischefF."  Capo  D'Istrias,  to  whom  the  scrap  of  paper  was 
brought,  and  who  was  then  passing  through  Italy,  promised  that, 
fifteen  days  after  his  arrival  at  St.  Petersburg,  the  obnoxious 
ambassador  should  be  removed.     He  kept  his  word.     Russia  lost 


144      REVOLT  OF  THE  ISLA  DE  LEON. 

at  Madrid, — came  down  himself  to  watch  over  the  con- 
spiracy, and  openly  used  his  predominating  influence 
at  court  to  sacrifice  those  superior  officers  who  endea- 
voured to  enlighten  the  government  regarding  what 
was  there  in  progress.  It  was  this  revolution  which 
matured  and  brought  forth  those  dissensions  which 
have  since  distracted  the  Peninsula  ;  and  afforded  the 
occasion  which  was  taken  by  Russia  at  the  Congress  of 
Verona,  to  constrain,  or  rather  cheat,  France  into  the 
invasion  of  1823,  the  parent  of  subsequent  reactions 
and  endless  troubles. 

nothing.  The  work  had  been  accomplished,  and  Ugarte  was  left 
behind.  The  Baile  having  proved  himself  so  successful  with  a 
king,  was  then  sent  to  try  his  hand  on  an  emperor. 

This  fact  I  have  had  from  the  agent  employed  by  Ferdinand. 
It  is  curious  that  Spain  should  have  got  rid  of  a  Russian  ambas- 
sador, and  kicked  out  an  English  one.  It  is  curious  that  it 
should  have  been  for  the  same  cause.  In  the  first  case,  however, 
the  evil  was  already  done.  What  service  might  not  Spain  render 
to  Europe,  if,  moved  by  the  tortures  she  has  undergone,  and  by 
the  happy  consequences  which  she  has  experienced  from  having 
one  intriguer  the  less  at  Madrid,  she  should  withdraw  her  own 
from  foreign  courts,  and  thus  be  herself  relieved  from  the  others  ! 


THE   WOMEN    OF   CADIZ.  145 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EXCURSION   ROUND    THE    STRAITS. 

Cadiz,  Oct.  24th. 

In  the  land  of  the  Hindoos,  far  away  from  the  ocean, 
there  is  a  building  called  the  Pearl  Mosque.  The 
Spaniards  call  their  Cadiz,  the  City  of  Silver.  But 
Cadiz  is  the  daughter,  not  of  the  land  but,  of  the  sea, 
and  is  the  pearl  of  cities. 

The  impression  of  brightness  I  have  received  in 
Cadiz  does  not,  however,  arise  from  the  lustre  of  these 
silvery  turrets,  but  from  a  swarm  of  women  covering 
the  floor  of  the  cathedral  with  a  mass  of  silk  blonde 
tresses,  and  eyes,  shining,  fluttering,  gleaming — and 
all  is  black.  I  had  passed  from  the  Ommiades  to 
the  Abassides.  In  that  monumental  uniformity  there 
are  a  fascination  and  a  grandeur,  which  scatter  to 
the  wind  our  freaks  of  fashion.  How  contemptible 
the  devices  of  our  continual  change,  when  contrasted 
with  the  things  discovered,  used,  and  preserved  by  a 
whole  people  ! 

If  I  venture  on  this  track  so  often  beaten,  and  re- 
attempt  the  description  of  things  so  often  described, 
yet  never  conveyed,  my  excuse  is,  that  I  have  adjusted 
my  eye  a*nd  observation  to  a  more  distant  point,  and 

VOL.  I.  L 


146         COSTUME   OF   THE   WOMEN   OF   CADIZ. 

have  looked  to  making  what  I  saw,  intelligible  to  a 
future  time.  To  this  I  have  been  led  by  the  fact  that 
changes  are  in  progress.  The  day  may  come  when, 
having  exhausted  variety  without  finding  contentment, 
this  people  may  try  to  go  back,  and  endeavour  with 
pain  to  regain  what  now,  in  heedlessness,  they  are 
casting  away :  then  will  it  be  interesting  to  know 
what,  while  Spain  still  retained  manners  of  her  own, 
struck  the  passing  stranger. 

The  milliners  of  Paris,  it  is  a  common  saying,  have 
accomplished4''  what  the  arms  of  Napoleon  were  unable 
to  achieve, — as  if  female  vanity  had  broken  down  na- 
tional character  and  taste,  which  masculine  sense 
struggled  to  uphold.  Alas !  for  the  dignity  of  man- 
hood ; — it  is  the  tailors,  not  the  milliners  of  Paris, 
who  have  triumphed  where  German  insolence,  Bourbon 
fraud,  and  imperial  victories  alike  had  failed. 

Spain  lives  only  in  the  peasantry,  and  in  that  sex 
which  an  Eastern  sage  has  said  is  "  the  first  to  hope 
and  the  last  to  despair."  The  men  we  see  walking 
about  the  streets  are  the  ordinary  persons  inhabiting 
European   towns.     You   are   reminded   that  you   are 

*  A  lady,  writing  from  the  north  of  Scotland,  thus  speaks  of 
the  double  invasion  there  of  bonnets  and  poor  : — "  Bonnets  have 
been  the  destruction  of  the  Caithness  servants  :  what  they  spend 
on  these,  and  flowers  and  ribands  (instead  of  the  linsey -wolsey 
petticoat,  cotton  jacket,  and  snood),  would  keep  their  parents  in 
meal  for  months ;  but,  of  course,  now  that  there  is  a  '  legal  as- 
sessment,' what  need  they  care  or  "  scrimp  "  themselves,  only  to 
spare  the  parish." — "  She  (an  old  woman  of  ninety-two)  told  me, 
that  formerly  there  was  more  love  among  neighbours  than  now 
among  brothers." 


THE  MANTILLA. — THE  MANTA.       147 

in  a  country  which  is  itself  only  when  you  see  the 
women. 

The  crown  of  this  costume  is  the  mantilla.  It 
belongs  to  the  class  of  vestures  intended  to  screen, 
not  to  parade  :  it  nevertheless  enhances  and  sets  off 
beyond  every  device  and  contrivance  of  mere  dis- 
play. The  ancient  form,  the  manta^  was  within  the 
century  known  in  sequestered  places.  It  is  in  com- 
mon use  in  the  transatlantic  possessions  or  offshoots 
of  Spain  ;  it  lingers  still  on  the  verge  of  the  Penin- 
sula at  Tarifa,  where  I  have  mentioned  it. 

The  manta  *  is  a  stripe  of  black  taffeta  or  serge, 
two  yards  long  by  one  broad.  Three  cords  are  run 
through  it  lengthways  at  one  edge  j  by  these  it  is 
bound  and  puckered  round  the  waist  :  it  is  then 
turned  up  like  a  petticoat  over  the  head  and  shoulders, 
and  is  gathered  in  the  hand  upon  the  breast.  In 
front  there  is  a  lappet  of  about  six  inches'  width, 
lined  with  crimson  silk,  which  cotaaes  round  the  face. 
Encasing  the  person  from  the  waist  upwards,  it  is 
an  admirable  protection  against  wind,  rain,  and  sun. 
One  eye  only — generally  the  left  one — is  exposed. 
Thus  Solomon  sings  : 

"  With  thy  one  eye  thou  hast  bewitched  me." 

Backed  by  such  authority,  I  may  venture  to  say  that 
it  is  not  without  its  ostensible  beauties  as  well  as 
its  revelations  of  grace  and  attractions  of  conceal- 
ment.    The  Turkish  yashmac  conceals  the  face ;  the 

*  The  name  of  the  cloak  worn  by  the  gentlemen,  and  of  the 
plaid  used  by  the  peasants. 

l2 


148    THE   MANTILLA   DE  TIRO  AND   DE   BLONDA. 

farigee  shrouds  the  person  :  the  manta  serves  at  once 
for  both  purposes.  The  faldett  of  the  women  of 
Malta  is  of  the  same  description.  The  petticoat 
being  also  black,  the  dress  appears  all  of  one  piece? 
as  originally  it  was.  The  name  of  the  costume  is 
saya-manta. 

The  mantilla  is  the  manta  narrowed,  loosened  from 
the  waist  and  fastened  on  the  head.  There  are  two 
kinds.  *  The  mantilla  de  tiro  is  that  worn  by  the 
peasantry  :  it  is  of  black  serge  trimmed  with  velvet. 
It  is  worn  high  on  the  head,  and  round  upon  the 
face.  The  second,  the  costume  of  the  city,  is  the 
mantilla  de  blonda :  it  is  of  silk,  rich  and  stiff; 
plain  or  flowered,  and  differs  from  the  other  by  hav- 
ing blonde  to  the  depth  of  twelve  inches  all  round. 
The  blonde  is  deeper  in  front,  so  as  to  serve  as  a 
veil.  The  edge  of  the  silk  is  fastened  to  the  comb 
at  the  crown  of  the  head ;  the  silk  falls  behind,  the 
lace  before,  unless  gathered  up.  It  is  secured  in 
windy  weather  against  the  cheek  by  the  tip  of  the  fan. 
The  mantilla,  when  dropped  on  the  shoulders,  degene- 
rates into  a  veil  joined  to  an  unmeaning  scarf  or  a 
tippet ;  yet  this  is  now  become  the  fashion.  The  whole 
is  sometimes  of  lace — when  it  is  only  a  bagged  hood. 

The  mantilla  is  not  spoken  of  as  a  piece  of  dress 
that  fits  well  or  ill.  Such  a  lady,  they  say,  wears 
her  mantilla  well,  just  as  if  they  were  speaking  of  a 
ship  carrying  her   colours.     The   port   of  a   Spanish 

*  I  have  heard  of  another  mantilla — de  Cacherula — longer 
than  the  others,  and  like  a  scarf. 


MODES    OF   DRESSING   THE  HAIR.  149 

lady  is,  indeed,  like  the  bearing  of  a  ship.  The 
mantillas,  reversing  the  effect  of  our  costume — which 
is  to  impress  the  wearer  with  the  feelings  of  a  block — 
gives  at  once  freedom  and  dexterity.  The  mantilla, 
fan,  castanet,  guitar  and  dance — which  last  is  not  here 
the  business  of  the  legs  alone — keep  the  arms  always 
busy.  The  head  is  disencumbered  of  bonnet,  cap, 
ribands  and  curls  ;  hence  that  grace  of  the  Spanish 
women,  which  all  recognize  and  none  can  describe, 
for  mere  form  or  feature  does  not  explain  it. 

I  need  not  say  that  beneath  a  mantilla  there  are 
no  curls ;  nor  need  I  add,  that  where  neither  bonnets 
nor  caps  are  worn,  and  the  head  is  always  exposed, 
the  hair  is  well  kept.  A  Spanish  lady  remarked 
to  me,  that  what  struck  her  principally  when  she 
travelled  in  other  countries,  was  the  want  of  clean- 
liness in  the  women's  hair.  It  is  always  exposed, 
as  hair  was  intended  to  be,  to  the  air  and  wind,  and 
it  is  every  day  in  water,  for  they  wet  it  before  using 
the  comb. 

The  hair  is  dressed  in  two  styles.  One  is  called 
sarrano.  The  only  explanation  I  could  get  for  this 
name  was,  that  sierra  means  mountain,  and  that  the 
mountaineers  dress  in  this  way.  But  neither  does  it 
seem  to  be  the  style  of  the  Sierra,  nor  does  the  word 
sarrano  mean  mountain :  there  is,  indeed,  no  such  word 
in  Spanish."* 

*  The  word  Sarra  is  given  in  Aldevete  :  he  renders  it  prin- 
cess ;  also  Sarria,  Valencian  for  net.  He  derives  both  from  the 
Hebrew. 


150  ORIGIN   OF   THE  WORD   SARRANO. 

Sar  and  sarrano  were  Phoenician  forms  of  Tyre  ? 
and  Tyrian.  The  Tyrian,  not  the  Greek  or  Roman, 
pronunciation  would  prevail  in  Spain  and  Africa. 
Columella,  a  Spaniard,  says,  "  Sarranam  violam ; " 
Silvius  Italicus  has  "  Sarranum  maricem ;  "  Ennius, 
"  Sarranum  ostrum  ; "  consequently,  "  Sarrano  head- 
dress ?  means  neither  more  nor  less  than  "  Tyrian 
head-dress."f  Such  an  etymology  is  in  no  ways  far- 
fetched. It  is  quite  natural  to  look  for  a  Tyrian 
mode  of  dressing  the  hair,  under  a  covering  of  the 
head,  described  by  Solomon,  in  a  city  built  by  the 
Tyrians,  and  from  which  you  can  perceive  another 
city,  which  to  this  day  bears  the  name  of  Sidon. 

Saint  Augustine  quotes  it  as  an  instance  of  the 
retentive  memory  of  the  people  of  his  age,  that  the 
rustics  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Carthage,  when  asked 
who  and  what  they  were,  answered,  "We  are  from 
Canaan ; "  whence  they  had  come  one  thousand  and 
ninety  years  before,  and  after  the  name  of  Canaan  had 
long  been  obliterated.  Here  is  a  head-dress  with  the 
name  of  Tyre^  more  than  double  that  interval  of 
years. 

In  the  "  Tyrian  "  (Sarrano)  style,  the  hair  is  divided 
over  the  forehead,  turned  back  with  an  ample  fold, 

*  "  Quod  nunc  Tyrus  dicitur  olim  Sana  vocabatur." — Scholi- 
ast on  Virgil. 

"  Poenos  Sarra  oriundos." — Ennius. 

f  "  Mantilla  de  Tiro  "  may  be  from  the  same  word. 
X  The  dance  Sarrabanda,  the  saraband  of  our  old  writers,  is, 
of  course,  nothing  else  but  "  Tyrian  bounding." 


HAIR-DRESSING. — THE   SARRANO  AND   MONO.    151 

the  ends  fastened  behind  :  the  back  hair  is  divided 
and  plaited,  and  hangs  down  the  back  ;  and  no  doubt 
formerly,  as  in  the  East  and  in  Barbary,  silk  of  the 
colour  of  the  hair  was  plaited  in  and  hung  down  to  the 
heels  in  tassels.  There  appears  to  be  a  reason  why 
this  style  was  called  "Tyrian."  The  Jewesses  wear 
their  hair  bound  upon  the  head  in  a  very  elaborate 
manner,  with  feathers,  a  cushion,  and  handkerchief, 
the  Tyrian  being  all  open  and  exposed.  I  find  that  I 
am  concurrently  using  the  past  and  present  tenses, 
referring  at  one  moment  to  the  spot  where  1  am  ;  at 
the  next  to  the  times  of  Hiram  and  Solomon ;  but, 
in  fact,  they  are  so  intermingled  that  it  is  impossible 
to  dissever  the  Scriptural  descriptions  and  the  things 
themselves. 

The  other  style  is  mofio;—  and  has  also  a  foreign  as- 
sociation not,  however,  with  Jerusalem,  but  with  Paris, 
for  it  has  been  recently  imitated  there.  The  front 
hair,  parted,  is  plaited  on  each  side  into  one  plait,  then 
rolled  as  a  wheel  upon  the  temple,  and  fastened  by  a 
hair-pin.  The  back  hair  is  gathered  light,  and  secured 
behind  by  a  riband.  It  is  then  divided  into  two  parts 
and  plaited  ;  these  are  turned  up  like  a  bow,  and 
secured  by  the  same  riband.  The  bow  (I  mean  of  the 
hair)  is  then  twisted,  so  as  to  spread  on  both  sides, 
resting  on  the  nape  of  the  neck.  It  derives  its  name 
from  mo  no,  which  is  a  large  rose  of  variously -coloured 
riband,  which  is  sometimes  used  to  set  it  off.  It  is 
placed  on  the  crown  of  the  head  :  from  it  hang  two 
tassels  of  gold  or  silver,  lace  or  embroidery. 


152  GOWNS,  PETTICOATS,   SHOES,   AND 

There  is  no  gown  of  a  piece  ;  the  costume  is  in 
separate  parts  :  the  sleeves  and  body  may  be  of  any 
colour.  They  are,  out  of  doors,  covered  by  the 
mantilla  ;  like  it,  the  petticoat  is  black  :  formerly  it 
was  not  above  two  yards  in  width,  and  fell  to  the 
mi-jambe  with  weights  round  to  keep  it  down.  In 
a  discussion  on  these  subjects  with  Spanish  ladies, 
an  English  gentleman  maintained,  on  the  authority 
of  Murray's  new  "  Guide-Book,"  which  had  just  come 
out,  and  which  had  been  looked  forward  to  with 
as  much  expectation  as  it  produced  disappointment, 
that  only  recently  the  ladies  of  Cadiz  had  taken  to 
show  their  feet :  that,  "  formerly,  they  wore  their 
petticoats  so  long  that  you  could  not  tell  if  they  had 
any  feet  at  all."  This  produced  an  exclamation  of 
astonishment  and  anger.  A  Gaditana  mentioned  that, 
having  returned  in  1823  from  Paris  to  Madrid  in 
the  wake  of  the  French  army,  bringing  her  mantilla 
with  her,  she  sent  for  a  milliner  to  order  the  other 
parts  of  the  Spanish  dress.  The  milliner  told  her 
that  her  Paris  dresses  would  do,  for  that  nothing  else 
was  worn;  on  which  she  apostrophised  the  artiste 
thus  : — "  Go  out  into  the  streets  with  mantilla  and 
long  petticoats!"  Her  astonishment  equalled  her 
indignation  at  seeing  this  hideous  petticoat  imposed 
on  Spaniards,  who,  as  she  said,  did  not  require  it, 
not  having  "  feet  an  ell  long." 

The  petticoat  of  the  peasants  in  Andalusia  is  yel- 
low, of  a  homely  but  excellent  woollen  stuff,  and 
bordered  with  red,  the  two  colours  which  the  Spanish 


SANDALS   OF  SPANISH  WOMEN.  153 

women   most  affect — the   colours   of  their  gorgeous 
standard,  those  of  gold  and  blood. 

A  Spanish  woman  is  no  less  attentive  to  her  foot 
and  shoe*  than  to  her  hair:  from  below  the  saga 
comes  forth  the  plump  leg  in  its  creaseless  stocking. 
The  impression  that  remained  on  me  of  Spain,  having 
been  there  as  a  child,  was  a  black  lace-bedizened 
female  figure,  with  a  bunch  of  flowers  on  the  head 
and  on  the  foot,  and  a  white  satin  shoe,  cheapening 
cod  in  the  fish-market  at  six  in  the  morning.  If  the 
wise  man  was  bewitched  by  the  sight  of  the  "  one 
eye,"  so  was  the  paynim  Holofernes  "  ravished"  by 
the  sight  of  Judith's  sandal.  But  the  sandal  must 
not  be  taken  for  that  thing  which  Abigails  call  by 
that  name  :  it  was  not  the  service  of  riband  that 
held  the  sole  on,  but  the  sole  itself.  Spain  is  still 
the  country  of  the  sandal  :  you  may  see  it  every  day, 
and  there  is  nothing  that  more  recalls  antiquity  than 
the  bands  (stone-blue)  by  which  it  is  secured  round 
the  ankle  and  foot.f 

*  "  In  doors  they  wear  mules,  or  shoes  very  low,  the  rest  of 
the  leg  being  naked;  out  of  doors,  and  particularly  in  Anda- 
lusia, they  wear  drawers,  long  and  very  neatly  folded,  to  exhibit 
a  line  leg,  for  their  garments  only  come  down  to  half  the  leg. 
They  are  very  particular  about  their  feet,  and  they  have  shoes 
of  thin  Morocco,  very  soft,  embroidered  in  silk  of  different  co- 
lours. They  have  for  bracelets  large  manacles  of  gold  and  silver, 
so  weighty  that  those  of  gold  are  worth  a  hundred  ducats*  They 
have  similar  ones  above  the  ankle,  which  are  round,  and  thicker 
than  the  wrist." — Marmol's  Africa,  vol.  ii.  p.  192. 

t  The  alpargata  is  not  strictly  the  sandal,  for  the  sole  is  of 
untanned    leather,   or  a  thick    texture    of   hemp.     The   sandal 


154  THE  BASQUENA,   SAGA  AND   MANGAS. 

The  old  Spanish  shoe  is  very  low,  and  scarcely 
held  at  all  at  the  heel :  like  the  slipper  of  the  East- 
erns, it  required  the  action  of  the  toes  to  hold  it  on. 
The  calf  of  the  leg  accordingly  was  full,  because  its 
muscles  were  called  into  play.  So  important  is  this 
to  the  grace  and  ease  of  the  figure,  that  at  Rome 
the  models,  male  and  female,  lose  their  pension  if 
they  wear  a  shoe  with  a  thick  sole. 

There  still  wants  something  to  complete  the  Spa- 
nish costume,  or,  perhaps,  I  might  say  the  Spanish 
woman — and  that  is  the  fan.  Yet,  how  supply  this 
want  I  at  least,  without  herself — how  convey  her  and 
it  on  paper?  You  might  as  well  attempt  to  teach 
on  paper  how  to  roll  a  turban,  make  coffee,  or  hit 
the  bull's-eye. 

The  petticoat  has  two  names,  basquena  and  saga. 
The  latter  recalls  the  sagum  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, which  is  derived  from  sagi  or  sogi  of  the 
Touaregs  :  sagum  designated  a  web  or  mantle.  How 
it  has  come  to  be  a  petticoat  I  shall  presently  explain. 

The  sleeves,  mangas,  are  tight  to  the  arm,  and 
buttoned  up  the  fore-arm,  not  by  button-holes  in  the 
stuff,  but  in  the  Eastern  manner,  with  loops.  The  but- 
tons are  gold  filigree,  which  we  call  Maltese  :  they  are 
used  in  large  numbers  for  ornamenting  the  maja  dress. 
The  body  is  low  round  the  shoulders,  as  the  present 
evening  dress  of  Europe  ;  but  they  do  not  sin  against 
mechanics  and  modesty  by  bringing  the  edge  of  the 

proper  has  been  seen  on  Jews  from  the  Atlas  :  it  is  still  in  use  in 
Arabia  and  Ethiopia. 


SPANISH   MANAGEMENT   OF   THE   FAN.  155 

dress  to  the  angle  of  the  shoulder.  A  scarf  is  fast- 
ened above  the  dress,  which  comes  up  behind,  is 
secured  upon  the  shoulders  by  clasps,  and  then 
brought  down  in  front.  There  is  something  ap- 
proaching to  this  worn  by  the  women  in  Morocco. 
The  buckles  and  clasps  on  the  shoulders  are  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  parts  of  the  dress  in  which  colour  is  allowed 
are  the  body  and  the  sleeves,  which,  when  out  of 
doors,  are  shrouded  by  the  mantilla.  The  dress  for 
the  streets  is  black,  and  invariably  black  ;  while  the 
men  display  the  most  gaudy  and  variegated  colours. 

The  avanico  is  used  ceremoniously  and  socially  : — 
in  the  first  place,  it  is  stiffly  and  demurely  restricted 
to  its  legitimate  end.  When  it  enters  common  life, 
held  firmly,  yet  freely  between  the  fingers  and  the  ball 
of  the  hand,  it  serves  as  an  extension  of  it,  feathered 
to  flout  the  air.  The  ordinary  fan  practice  is  to  throw 
the  hand  outwards  while  letting  go  one  side  of  the 
fan  ;  then  turning  the  hand  inwards  to  recover  it  by  a 
jerk.  If  we  had  no  fans  in  Europe  there  would  be 
less  difficulty  in  describing,  because  our  imagination 
would  be  free  and  at  work.  Having  fans,  and  using 
them  to  disturb  the  air,  we  have  settled  notions  of 
them  ;  and  when  we  hear  what  a  Spanish  fan  can  ac- 
complish, we  conclude  that  there  is  a  code  of  signals — 
some  sort  of  constructive  slang  imparted  to  the  initi- 
ated. The  Spanish  fan  is  no  more  the  arm  of  a  tele- 
graph than  the  leaf  of  a  winnowing  machine.  A  fan  is 
to  a  Spanish  woman  what  feathers  are  to  a  bird.     Is 


156  SPANISH    SKILL   ON   THE   GUITAR. 

she  content  and  happy  ? — there  is  its  gentle  fluttering 
— in  its  vivacious  and  rapid  catch — in  its  long-drawn 
motion — in  its  short  pulse.  There  is  all  that  is  con- 
veyed to  us  by  the  brow  when  it  lowers  the  eye  ;  when 
it  flushes  the  cheek — when  it  glows.  She  wants  not  the 
frown  to  dismiss,  nor  the  smile  to  invite  :  it  is  an  addi- 
tional and  mute  voice  :^-I  might  compare  it  to  the  rod 
of  a  magician,  or  to  the  passes  of  a  mesmerist.  Once 
seen,  you  feel  that  it  is  what  was  required  to  complete 
— woman.  The  ideal  was  always  in  the  mind,  guessed 
£nly  before,  but  recognised  the  moment  it  is  seen.* 

An  English  lady  plays  on  the  harp  or  the  piano- 
forte. A  French  lady  touches  the  one  and  pinches 
the  other.  The  guitar  belongs  to  the  Spaniard — as 
constant  as  her  mantilla  ;  as  familiar  as  her  fan — it  is 
ready  to  please  a  guest ;  to  solace  a  leisure  hour.  It 
is  no  matter  of  ostentation  ;  it  is  no  performance.  Her 
proficiency  is  not  the  result  of  study  ;  there  are  no 
hours,  —  no  years  consumed  in  practising ;  it  is  an 
unceasing  amusement,  an  inseparable  companion. 

*  An  artiste  thus  advertises  in  the  Times  : — "  The  Fan. — The 
most  graceful  mode  of  using  this  elegant  companion,  so  indis- 
pensable to  the  distinguished,  will  be  imparted  by  a  lady  who 
is  well  skilled  in  an  exercise  so  charming  and  fascinating  in  the 
brilliant  society  of  the  continent,  particularly  of  the  Court  of 
Spain.  A  fortnight's  practice  would  remove  that  impression  of 
inaptitude  and  want  of  grace,  hitherto  so  apparent  in  its  use  in 
the  most  fashionable  circles  in  this  country.  The  lady  will  be 
at  home  from  12  to  4  on  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday  of 
each  week,  commencing  the  10th  of  January.  The  lessons  are 
for  the  select  few,  at  five  guineas  the  course.  For  cards  of  address 
apply  to  Mde.  Ramazzoti,  French  Room,  Soho  Bazaar." 


LACE  IN    SPAIN.  157 

That  which  would  strike  the  stranger  as  most  extra- 
ordinary, is  our  having  one  costume  in  the  morning 
and  one  in  the  evening ;  one  dress  which  lives  only  in 
daylight,  another  which  never  sees  the  sun.  This  is 
a  peculiarity  for  which  no  age  and  no  race  afford  a 
parallel.  Take  Cherokee  or  ancient  Egyptian,  Hindoo, 
Athenian,  Hottentot,  or  Kamschatdale,  you  will  not 
find  one  who  has  dressed  his  body  according  to  the 
motions  of  the  sun  and  earth  ;  or  held  a  checked  waist- 
coat, or  a  close-bodied  gown  as  appropriate  at  one  hour 
and  inappropriate  at  another.  When  dress  was  asso- 
ciated with  respect,  change  either  by  the  hour  or 
month  was  impossible :  the  man  was  then  more  than 
the  food  and  the  body — than  the  raiment ; — change 
could  only  become  habitual  where  such  feelings  were 
dead ;  and  then  dress,  escaping  from  the  guidance  of 
taste,  became  the  trappings  of  vanity.  This  evening- 
dress  of  Europe  is  the  common  in-door  dress,  slightly 
disfigured,  of  the  Spanish  lady. 

The  veil  and  fan,  the  chief  adornment  of  the 
female  costume,  are  from  Spain ;  so  also  is  that 
richest  and  most  distinguishing  of  its  materials, 
lace. 

Barbara  of  Brabant  has  received  the  credit  of  the 
discovery  ;  but  her  share  can  extend  no  further  than 
to  the  mode  of  working  in  flax.  The  texture  in  silk 
and  cotton  must  have  been  carried  thither  by  the 
Spaniards.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, the  word  blonda  is  found  in  a  Castilian  law,*  it 

*  "  Furthermore,  I  ordain  and  command  that  no  Jewesses  of 


358  ,       MANUFACTURE   OF 

is  referred  to  as  a  manufacture  in  general  use,  and 
consequently  long  established.  It  was  not  known 
in  Europe  for  at  least  a  century  later. f. 

Lace  is  to  be  seen  in  every  hut,  on  every  domestic 
article  : — pillow-case,  napkins,  sheets — it  is  a  national 
type,  and  must  be  of  ancient  date ;  in  all  likelihood, 
from  that  common  source  of  Spanish  things,  Judaea. 
In  this  conclusion,  I  was  confirmed  by  finding  in 
Barbary  the  term  Guipoor.  It  is  used  by  the  Jews 
for  the  festival  of  atonement,  when  they  wear  white 
mantles  in  the  synagogue,  with  the  fringes  in  open 
embroidery.  The  name  of  the  country  was  given  to 
the  texture.     The  texture,  then,  comes  from  the  Jews.t 

The  word  dentelle\  is  explained  as  meaning  the 
teethlike  points  of   the  serrated  border  lace,  as  dis- 

our  kingdoms  shall  wear  mantillas  with  lace  or  trimmings." — 
Ord.  John  II.,  Cifuentes,  July,  1412. 

*  The  Magasin  des  Demoiselles,  (October,  1847,)  which  ought 
on  such  a  subject  to  be  a  good  authority,  says  that  coarse  lace 
was  first  used  by  the  priests  and  women  in  the  time  of  Francis 
I.,  soon  after  two  varieties  appeared  called  Visette,  and  Gueuse  : 
next  appeared,  from  the  manufacturers  of  Brussels,  &c,  Migno- 
nette, La  Compour,  and  lastly  La  Guypure,  sometimes  embellished 
with  silk  and  gold  and  silver  thread.  The  original  patterns  of  the 
guypure  resemble  those  of  the  lace  which  at  present  is  known  by 
that  name.  These,  strongly  meshed,  run  and  entwine,  capriciously 
imitating  the  forms  of  the  architecture  of  the  "renaissance" 
which  evidently  suggested  it.  The  guypures  in  narrow  strips  are 
called  "  tete  de  more" 

t  At  Jerusalem  the  fringes  Tzetzes  were  sometimes  so  long  that 
carpets  were  carried  about  to  bear  them  on. 

t  Nicod,  Monnet,  Henri,  Etienne,  dictionaries  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  do  not  contain  the  word  Dentelle.     In  the  Encyclopedic 


LACE   IN   SPAIN.  159 

tinguished  from  the  Guipoor,  Mechlin,  Brussels,  and 
English  point,  &c.  But  there  was  an  ancient  festival 
in  Spain  on  the  occasion  of  the  child  cutting  its  teeth, 
which  was  known  to  the  Christians  under  the  name 
of  Dentilia.*  Such  would  be  a  fitting  time  for  the 
display  of  this  finery.  Whoever  has  seen  the  festival 
of  Corpus  Christi  in  Spain,  or  Portugal,  will  understand 
how  natural  it  was  to  give  the  name ;  for  on  it  all 
the  procession,  or  at  least  all  the  public  functionaries 
to  this  day,  wear  scarfs  of  lace  over  their  uni- 
forms. 

The  blonde  is  made  on  the  frame.  The  common 
lace,  which  is  used  as  seams  and  edging,  is  made  with 
the  crochet,  which  is  as  familiar  in  the  hands  of  every 
Moor,  as  formerly  the  cronag  in  those  of  the  Highland 

Methodique  is  mentioned  a  work  published  in  1587,  being  a 
translation  and  a  third  edition  of  Frederick  de  Vinciolo  Venilaari, 
of  which  the  title  is  "  Le  Reseau  premier  et  la  point  coupe  et  locis 
de  plusieurs  beaux  et  differens  pour  traicts  de  reseau x  de  point 
de  c6te  avec  le  nombre  de  mailles,  chose  non  encore  vue  ni  in- 
ventee."  The  engravings  seem  to  represent  two  kinds  of  lace, 
figures  forming  a  toile  without  field,  i.  e.  guypure  ;  the  other 
figures  on  a  square  thick-set  ground  or  net  work  as  in  Valen- 
ciennes appliqu^es. 

Of  the  same  period,  a  set  of  engravings  representing  the  avoca- 
tions of  men  (by  Dubruyn  and  A.  V.  Londerseel)  shows  a  girl 
at  work  on  lace  with  the  cushion  now  in  common  use  on  her 
knee.     Colbert  protected  it  in  1629. 

*  '*  They  (the  Moors)  have  Festival  days  instituted  of  old  by 
the  Christians,  whereupon  they  use  certain  ceremonies  which 
themselves  understand  not.  .  .  .  When  their  children's  teeth 
begin  to  grow,  they  make  another  feast  called,  according  to  the 
Latins,  Dentil '/«." — Leo  Afrioanus,  Book  iii.  Description  of  Fez. 


160  COSTUME   OF  SPAIN. 

shepherd.  The  Barbarj  caps  were  originally  so  made, 
and  indeed  are  so  still.  In  the  same  way,  may  yet 
be  seen  Highland  hose,  and  formerly  the  trews.  The 
Shetland  shawl  still  bears  testimony  to  the  recorded 
beauty  of  the  manufactures  of  the  Hebrides,  in  early 
times  ;  and  in  Barbary — although  I  know  not  that  the 
art  is  still  preserved — magnificent  pieces  of  Guypoor 
come  from  time  to  time  to  light.  One  was  brought 
me  at  Tetuan  three  yards  and  a  half  in  length,  and 
above  a  yard  in  width. 

The  supposed  invention,  therefore,  of  lace-making  in 
the  Low  Countries,  must  be  understood  merely  as  that 
of  a  new  process,  viz.,  the  bobbins,  pins,  and  cushion, 
by  which  a  new  variety  was  obtained,  and  which  has 
its  beauty  and  its  facility  ;  but  which  can  stand  no 
comparison  with  the  original,  which  it  has  caused  to 
fall  into  disuse  ;  and  now  that  the  taste  for  it  is 
revived,  the  art  is  lost. 

While  the  Spanish  female  costume  is  unques- 
tionably the  most  beautiful  in  Europe,  it  would 
thus  appear  to  be  at  the  same  time  a  valuable 
historical  monument.  Nor  is  its  antiquarian  interest 
limited  to  the  Peninsula  :  it  carries  us  back  to  the 
land  and  the  people,  which,  of  all  others,  possess 
claims  on  the  affections,  and  merit  the  study  of 
Christendom. 

It  is  curious  that  there  should  be  but  two  coun- 
tries in  the  world  that  have  adopted  and  restricted 
themselves  to  a  single  colour, — that  these  countries 
should   lie   opposite   each  other — that  in  the   one  it 


COSTUME   OF  MAURITANIA.  lfil 

should  be  black,  and  in  the  other  white;  that 
the  one  should  be  the  derivative  of  which  the  other 
is  the  original;  that  the  wearers  of  black  should 
be  the  offspring  of  the  people  of  white,  and  that 
the  white  country  should  have  the  title  of  Mauri- 
tania ! 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  black  was  as- 
sumed after  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors.  General 
usages  are  not  of  these  days.  We  have  besides  proof 
that  black  was  the  colour  of  Spain  twelve  hun- 
dred years  before  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens  : 
they  wear  "black  say  as,"  says  the  Greek  geographer. 
But  the  people  of  Mauritania  were  not  called  black, 
because  of  their  complexion,  —  they  were  a  fair 
people :  Scylax  applies  to  them  the  epithet  of 
Zuvdoi*  They  were  (jbccvgo<p6goi,  or  clad  in  black, 
and  hence,  no  doubt,  their  name.  The  two  Mauri- 
tanias  equally  wore  black,  and  no  doubt  the  adop- 
tion   of   white    by    the    Mussulmans    of    the    West 

*  "  The  Tuaregs  are  divided  into  two  bodies,  the  black  and  the 
white.  These  denominations  do  not  correspond,  as  might  be 
supposed,  with  a  difference  of  colour,  but  only  of  costume.  The 
white  are  clothed  like  the  Arabs,  the  black  have  a  costume  of 
their  own.  A  large  blouse  falls  to  the  feet :  the  sleeves  are  not 
less  than  two  metres  in  width.  It  is  called  Tob  or  Sayi,  and  is 
in  cotton  from  the  country  of  the  blacks.  When  they  travel,  a 
piece  of  cloth,  deep  blue,  fifteen  centimetres  wide,  called  tynala, 
is  wrapped  round  the  whole  body,  from  the  middle  upwards, 
enveloping  the  neck,  mouth,  and  nose,  and  covering  the  head ;  and 
through  the  small  interval  that  is  left  between  the  folds  of  this 
mask,  they  can  see  by  throwing  back  their  head."  Exploration 
de  VAlgerie,  vol.  ii.  p.  164. 

VOL.  I.  •  M 


162        SUPPOSED   ORIGIN   OF  THE   MANTILLA. 

was  the  result  of  the  establishment  there  of  the 
dynasty  of  the  Ommiades. 

But  beyond  the  zone  of  white,  there  is  another  zone 
of  black,  or  of  mixed  black  and  white.  A  portion  of 
the  Tuarisks,  who  occupy  the  vast  tract  of  Africa 
between  the  equator  and  the  habitable  portions  upon 
the  coast,  wear  the  black  sulam  with  black  cowl,*  a 
black  turban  rolled  round,  not  the  head  only,  but  the 
face,  the  neck,  and  body,  so  as  to  leave  exposed  alone 
their  black,  small,  sparkling  eyes. 

The  mantilla  is  generally  considered  a  relic  of  Mus- 
sulman usages,  but  the  women  in  Morocco  do  not 
now  wear  the  veil.  There,  men  and  women  have  one 
and  the  same  dress  :  they  wear  it  in  the  same  manner 
over  the  head,  the  only  difference  being,  that  the 
women  keep  it  closer  drawn.  The  first  clothing  must 
have  been  the  single  garment,  such  as  we  see  it  in 
Africa  still.  Noble  as  it  is  simple,  it  conforms  itself  to 
every  use  in  the  adaptation,  and  displays  every  grace 
in  the  adjustment  of  its  folds.  It  was  subsequently 
divided  and  cut  up  into  distinct  parts  or  coverings ; 
and  dress  became  a  set  of  integuments  for  casing  the 
limbs,  rather  than  for  clothing  the  body.  The  veil 
cannot,  therefore,  be  known  where  the  original  vesture 
remains  in  use. 

The  haik,  as  worn  by  the  Jewesses,  is  the  saya 
manta.    It  is  of  enormous  dimensions  ;  from  one  and 

*  May  not  this  be  the  mantle  introduced  by  Caracalla  into 
Rome,  and  from  which  he  derived  the  soubriquet  by  which 
posterity  has  known  him,  Cara  Cowl,  or  black  hood  ? 


THE  HA'iK,  AS  WORN   BY  JEWESSES. 


103 


a  half  to  two  yards  wide,  and  from  six  to  eight  long.* 
It  comes  four  times  round  the  body,  one  of  the  turns 
being  measured  by  the  outstretched  arms  to  form  the 
hood.  The  Jewesses  double  two  yards  and  a  half,  one 
part  longer  than  the  other,  so  as  to  serve,  when 
wrapped  round  the  waist,  for  a  petticoat ;  folds  to  give 
play  to  the  limbs  are  added  at  one  side,  and  secured 
by  a  large  pin ;  a  turn  is  then  taken  with  the  whole 
haik  round  the  waist,  and  the  remainder  is  brought 
from  behind  over  the  head  and  shoulders.  They  of 
course  wore  it  so  in  Spain.f 

For  the  source  of  peculiarities  in  Spain  it  is  na- 
tural that  we  should  look  to  Morocco;  not  so  for 
the  origin  of  a  costume  apparently  as  different  in 
form  as  remote  in  situation — the  Highland  garb ; 
yet  that  it  does  come  from  the  same  stock  is  indu- 
bitable. It  is  no  accidental  coincidence  here  and 
there  :  the  whole  build  and  purpose  are  identical — 
every  variation    can   be    traced   and   accounted   for. 

*  As  known  to  the  Greeks,  it  was  of  the  same  dimensions. 
The  exquisite  beauty  of  that  of  Alcisthenis  the  Sybarite  has 
preserved  its  description.  It  was  fifteen  cubits  long,  and  was 
sold  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  talents,  or  nearly  £30,000. 
The  dye  is  Tyrian,  the  border  of  animals;  the  gods  are  in  the 
centre,  and  Alcisthenis  himself  is  at  each  end,  and  all  this  wrought 
in  the  loom. — Arist.  de  Mirab.  xvi.  199;  Atlien.  xii.  58. 

f  "  That  all  Jewesses  and  Moriscos  of  our  kingdoms  and 
dominions,  shall,  within  ten  days  of  this  date,  wear  long  mantles 
reaching  to  their  feet,  and  cover  their  heads  with  the  same. 
Those  who  act  contrary,  for  so  doing  are  to  forfeit  all  the  clothes 
they  have  on,  to  their  under-garment." — Don  John  II.  Valladolid, 
January,  1412. 

m2 


164  IDENTITY    OF  THE   MOORISH 

There  is  nothing  that  militates  against  this  conclu- 
sion, which  there  is  so  much  directly  and  collaterally 
to  establish. 

If  the  costume  were  an  original  one  in  its  present 
form,  we  should  have  primitive  names  for  kilt  and 
plaid,  its  distinguishing  features.  Kilt  is  not  a 
Gaelic  word  :  there  is  no  word  in  Gaelic  for  kilt. 
It  is  called  "The  short  plaits  v  (fillibeg),  as  distin- 
guished from  the  "  long  plaits  "  (nllimore),"*  now  fallen 
into  disuse.  Plaid  is  not  a  Gaelic  word,  and  for 
plaid  there  is  in  Gaelic  no  other  name  than  brechan, 
or  "colours."  Plaid  and  kilt  are  equally  of  the 
brechan,  and  it  is  admitted  by  the  best  authorities 
that  formerly  they  were  one  :  the  belted  plaid  still 
shows  it.  With  "  long  plaits  "  the  plaid  would  reach 
to  the  dimensions  of  the  present  Moorish  haik.  In 
putting  on  the  plaid  you  bring  the  corner  over  the 
breast,  take  one  turn  round  the  body,  and  throw 
the  end  over  the  left  shoulder  :  it  is  precisely  the 
way  a  Moor  accustomed  to  the  haik  would  put  it  on. 
The  kilt  and  plaid  alone  are  in  tartan,  being  alike 
composed  of  the  "flag  mantle  :"f  the  jacket,  like  the 
tunic  of  the  Moor,  or  the  body  and  sleeves  of  the 
Spanish  lady,  was  of  any  colour.     To  the  saya  manta 

*  One  of  the  oldest  Celtic  figures  in  stone,  is  at  Cam  Serai  in 
Argyleshire ;  it  exhibits  the  fillimore,  as  the  Jewish  women  wear 
the  ha'ik ;  one  selvage  is  a  few  inches  lower  than  the  other,as 
the  ha'ik  is  not  folded  exactly  in  the  middle.  The  name  of  the 
place  is  curious. 

+  This  monstrous  solecism  of  the  jacket,  in  tartan,  may  be 
observed  in  Wilkie's  picture  of  George  IV.,  at  Holyrood  House. 


AND   HIGHLAND  GARB.  165 

and  the  ha'ik  the  peculiarity  of  colour  is  in  like 
manner  reserved  :  brechan  fell  is  the  name  of  the 
Highland  garb,  and  identical  with  saya  manta.  Thus, 
in  the  ha'ik  still  lives  the  common  parent  of  the 
costume  of  the  Highland  clansmen  and  the  Spanish 
lady  :  in  the  one  case  the  name  has  descended  on 
the  covering  of  the  shoulders  (brechan*  Gaelic),  in 
the  other  (saya)  in  that  of  the  legs.  It  is  curious 
that  the  old  name  is  given  in  Spain  to  the  petticoat 
of  the  women  ;  in  England  to  the  breeches  of  the  men. 
In  the  mountains  between  Baeza  and  Guadix,  which 
were  the  last  refuge  of  the  Moors,  I  have  seen  the 
manta  worn  by  the  men,  corresponding  in  texture 
exactly  with  the  ha'ik  worn  by  the  Arab  women  in  the 
tents,  which  are  sometimes  striped  in  colours :  the 
colours  in  like  manner  being  pure,  and  of  course  rich 
and  brilliant,  are  dyed  at  home.  Sometimes  the 
stripes  are  crossed,  which  is  not  the  practice  in 
Barbary.  The  first  I  saw  was  so  like  a  Scotch  plaid, 
that,  until  I  examined  it,  I  took  it  for  a  piece  of 
English  manufacture. 

*  Tartan  is  the  English  for  Brechan.  It  is  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  Gaelic,  but  it  is  not  so  :  it  seems  originally  to  have 
signified  shot  colours,  which  always  appear  in  the  tartan  from 
the  crossings  of  the  colours.  It  has  by  some  been  derived  from 
Tyre  tint.  The  Brechan  or  Tartan  is  the  set  of  each  clan.  The 
English  confound  Tartan  and  plaid,  and  speak  barbarously  of  a 
"  plaid  waistcoat,"  when  they  mean  a  tartan  waistcoat.  The 
plaid  is  in  Gaelic  a  shepherd's  mantle,  but  is  never  used  for  the 
Brechan  mantle,  or  "  battle  colours."  It  may  be  derived  from 
SiirXoifoov  (Pollux  vii.  49),  a  name  given  by  the  Greeks  to  a 
mantle  which  was  supposed  to  be  worn  double. 


166  MOORISH   AND   HIGHLAND   COSTUME. 

The  manta  or  plaid  of  the  shepherd  is  doubled, 
and  stitched  at  one  end  to  serve  as  a  hood,  just  as 
our  Highlanders  do,  to  put  the  feet  in  at  night,  or  to 
use  as  a  hood  or  as  a  bag.  In  this  part  of  Spain  the 
men  wear  large  white  drawers,  which  leave  the  knee 
bare,  and  appear  like  a  white  kilt.  The  medias,  like 
the  Scotch  hose,  are  bound  below  the  knee,  and  are 
sometimes  of  leather  like  those  the  Moors  use  for 
riding.  To  the  plaid  and  tartan,  to  the  facsimile 
of  the  kilt  and  hose,  they  add  the  strathspey  tune, 
and  the  reel  step,  and  "  set,"  to  each  other.  Seeing 
them  footing  it  toe  and  heel,  smacking  fingers,  clap- 
ping hands,  shouting  and  wheeling,  I  was  carried  at 
once  to  the  glens  and  straths  of  the  North.  While 
this  merriment  was  in  progress/several  carts  stopped. 
These  carts  had  two  wheels  and  two  horses,  the  pole 
resting  on  their  necks.  It  was  the  ancient  chariot. 
In  the  dialect  of  the  country  they  are  called  Elheudi, 
pure  Arabic  for  the  Jewish. 

Festivals  or  solemnities,  meetings  beyond  the  com- 
monplaces of  ordinary  intercourse,  are  required  from 
time  to  time  to  quicken  the  spirit  of  a  people,  and 
to  refresh  and  preserve  its  costume.  When,  in  the 
Highlands,  you  inquire  the  date  of  the  disuse  of  tartan 
kilt  and  arms,  they  will  reckon  back  to  the  time  when 
they  were  last  worn,  "at  church."  Yet  our  clergy 
have  never  cultured  the  Celtic  spirit,  and  have  held 
the  trappings  of  our  race  but  as  pagan  emblems,  dis- 
loyal badges,  or  mundane  toys. 

Amongst     European    countries.    Spain    is     distin- 


THE   MANTILLA   AT   CHURCH.  167 

guished  for  the  splendour  of  her  church,  and  alone 
retains  the  Eoman  festivities  of  the  bull-fight ;  and, 
no  doubt,  she  is  partly  indebted  to  these  for  what 
she  has  retained  of  her  ancient  character.  The  men, 
when  they  enter  the  circus,  the  women  when  they 
pass  the  porch,  drop  the  millinery  and  tailoring  of 
Paris.  What  the  bull-ring  is  for  the  one,  the  church 
is  for  the  other;  from  the  one,  is  inseparable  the 
majo  dress,  from  the  other,  the  say  a  manta. 

The  wearing  the  mantilla  at  church,  I  have  heard 
attributed  to  the  despotic  power  of  the  priests  over 
the  women: — the  chulos  of  the  bull-ring,  there  exer- 
cise equal  despotism  over  the  men.  Blanco  White 
narrates  that  during  the  plague  at  Seville,  and  when 
religious  fervour  was,  in  consequence,  at  its  height,  a 
priest  at  Alcala  "  claimed  and  exercised  a  right  to 
exclude  from  church  such  females  as  by  a  showy  dress 
were  apt  to  disturb  the  abstracted  yet  susceptible 
minds  of  the  clergy.  It  should  be  observed,  by  the 
way,  that  as  the  walking  dress  of  the  Spanish  females 
absolutely  precludes  immodesty,  the  conduct  of  this 
religious  madman  admits  of  no  excuse  or  palliation. 
Yet  this  is  so  far  from  being  a  singular  instance,  that 
what  sumptuary  laws  would  never  be  able  to  accom- 
plish, the  rude  and  insolent  zeal  of  a  few  priests  has 
fully  obtained  in  every  part  of  Spain.  Our  females, 
especially  those  of  the  better  classes,  never  venture 
to  church  in  any  dress  but  such  as  habit  has  made 
familiar  to  the  eyes  of  the  zealots." 

I  was  present  at  the  festival  of  the  patron  saints 


168  SPANISH    DEGENERACY   IN 

of  the  place,  and,  throughout  the  whole  population, 
saw  not  one  coloured  dress  or  one  bonnet.  The  man- 
tilla was  worn  in  deference  to  the  priests,  who  are 
to-day  as  powerful  as  they  ever  have  been,  and  as 
despotic  as  they  could  ever  wish  to  be. 

A  more  perfect  contrast  there  cannot  be  than 
between  the  cathedral  and  a  fashionable  tertulia.  In 
the  former  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  the  black  and 
glittering  silk  and  the  rich  blonde :  at  the  other  no 
trace  of  Spain — not  even  in  the  music  or  the  dances 
— no  mantilla,  no  bolero,  no  fandango,  no  guitar,  no 
castanet — nothing  but  the  unmeaning  quadrille,  the 
shuffling  heedless  step,  the  Paris  millinery,  the  false 
tints  and  kaleidoscope  patterns  : — everything  common- 
place and  vulgar,  or  rather  the  bad  imitation  of 
vulgarity  and  commonplace.  The  conversation  wanted 
even  the  compensation '  you  meet  with  in  Europe — 
stored  memories,  clever  flippancy,  and  gladiatorial 
faculties.  Thus  a  people  who,  had  they  remained 
themselves,*  would  have  been,  in  their  forms  as  in 
their  character,  an  object  of  study  and  of  admiration, 
are  converted  (the  higher  orders,  I  mean)  into  some- 
thing which  must  inflict  disappointment,  if  not  in- 
spire contempt. 

What  would  a  nation  be  without  a  flag  %  What 
is  a  nation  without  a  costume  \     A  flag  is  an  emblem, 

*  Addison,  commenting  in  his  time  on  the  vulgarising  influ- 
ence of  the  capital,  says,  "  If  you  want  to  know  a  man  who  has 
seen  the  world,  you  will  know  him  by  his  deficiency  in  those 
characters  which  seem  to  belong  to  good  society." 


REFERENCE  TO  COSTUME.        169 

a  costume  is  a  property.  A  flag  designates  and  de- 
fies, a  costume  ennobles  and  preserves.  A  flag  has 
come  by  accident,  costume  is  the  produce  of  a  people's 
taste.  The  Medes  had  a  dress;  the  Persians,  the  Ro- 
mans, the  Egyptians  had  each  a  dress.  To  say,  then, 
a  dress,  is  to  say  a  people.  A  costume  is  to  a 
people  like  its  mountains,  its  floods,  and  its  lakes. 
The  costume  of  its  land  and  its  fathers  has  been 
to  every  noble  people  like  their  tongue,  their  fame, 
their  precepts,  and  their  laws  ;  in  independence,  giv- 
ing dignity  ;  in  chains,  none.  The  tyrant  and  the 
patriot  alike  know  its  worth.  The  wandering  Israel- 
ite for  two  thousand  years,  has  worn,  concealed  on 
his  person,  the  proscribed  garb  of  Judsea — a  mystic 
shred,  the  emblem  and  promise  of  restoration.  So 
late  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  the  Parliament 
of  England  did  not  conceive  its  dominion  secure 
until  it  had  put  down  the  Highland  dress. 

The  last  in  Europe  to  retain  one,  the  Spaniard  has 
yet  a  costume.  He  is  in  the  act  of  surrendering  it,  yet 
no  foreign  hordes  cover  the  Peninsula  and  hunt  down 
its  inhabitants.  Itself,  with  unnatural  hands,  tears  it 
off  and  casts  it  away,  and  adopts  in  lieu  of  it  a  foreign 
garb — which,  indeed,  is  no  garb — for  it  belongs  to  no 
people,  furnished  forth  not  by  a  combination  of  the 
tastes  of  all  the  people  of  Europe,  but  by  a  concentration 
of  their  vulgarism.  Have  they  changed  with  a  pur- 
pose ?  Ask  them  :  they  can  give  you  no  reason  for 
what  it  means.     "  It  is  the  fashion?1 

I   have  a  curious  illustration  before  me,  where    I 


170  "THE  FASHION"  AS   OPPOSED 

am  correcting  these  pages.  On  the  side  of  Benledi 
there  is  a  vale,  now,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
fields,  uncultivated  below,  and  bare  of  trees  above. 
In  the  wilderness,  a  burial-ground  may  be  traced,  the 
record  of  an  extinct  clan,  the  last  having  left  the 
country  forty  years  ago.  Immediately  above,  a  hol- 
low in  the  rock  is  called,  "  The  Deer's  Repose."  The 
antlered  tribe  has  also  disappeared — forests,  deer,  cul- 
ture, and  men  are  all  gone.  There  are  six  families : 
the  patriarch  (still  living)  in  his  youthful  days  remem- 
bered twelve.  None  of  the  younger  generation  are 
married — at  least,  in  their  native  valley. 

While  seeking  into  the  causes  of  this  decay,  I  found 
that  they  were  changing  their  diet  *  —  the  last  thing  a 
nation  changes.  They  had  loaf-bread  from  Callender. 
I  asked,  "  Do  you  like  it  better  1  "  "  No."  "  Is  it 
cheaper  \ "  "  No."  "  Is  it  more  healthy  \  Have  you 
no  time  to  knead  your  cakes?  Do  you  not  know 
how  to  spend  your  money  \ "  "  No !  no ! "  At  last 
out  came — " It  is  the  fashion." 

If  the  Stuarts  of  Glenfinlass  had  said,  "It  is  the 
custom,"  instead  of  "  It  is  the  fashion,"  the  families 
would  not  have  fallen  from  twelve  to  six  within  one 
generation  ;  the  sheep  would  not  have  eaten  up  the 
deer  and  the  forest. 

A  people  with  a  phrase,  "  It  is  the  custom,"  can  never 

*  They  were  resigning  their  diet  of  milk  and  honey,  and 
taking  to  sloe-leaves  and  toast.  The  reason  brought  back  on 
me  Spain,  Greece,  and  all  the  changelings.  Ask  a  Turk  why 
he  does  anything  1  he  answers  A  det-dur — "  It  is  the  custom." 


171 

be  destroyed.  A  people  with  the  phrase,  "  It  is  the 
fashion,"  cannot  be  said  to  exist,  for  it  has  nothing 
of  all  it  possesses  that  it  can  call  its  own.  A  people 
that  can  articulate  such  a  phrase  on  the  lips,  has 
encouraged  a  power  which,  tyrannizing'  over  heart 
and  brain,  rots  the  one  and  steals  away  the  other. 

But  has  a  people  with  the  antiquity  and  the  history 
of  the  Celts,  and  amongst  the  Celts  of  the  Highlanders, 
no  equivalent  for  Adet-dur  ?  Yes,  they  have  or  had. 
"  It  was  nature,"  or  "  It  was  natural,"  or  "  It  was 
family,"  the  word  signifying  all  these.  With  that 
word  they  would  have  kept  their  numbers,  their 
customs,  their  kilts,  and  their  swords.  They  would 
have  still  their  songs  and  songsters.  There  was  in 
that  sentence  a  knot  of  life — a  knot  that  no  hands  but 
their  own  could  untie. 

The  Spaniards,  too,  have  a  sentence  of  their  own, 
Cosas  de  Esparto,. 


172  ILLUSTRATION  OF 


CHAPTER  X. 

EXCURSION   IN    THE   STRAITS. — CADIZ   POLITENESS. 

The  demeanour  of  men  towards  women  could  not 
fail  to  engage  attention  in  the  birthplace  of  chivalry, 
as  among  the  orientals  men  and  women  salute  in 
the  same  manner.  It  was  some  time  before  I  could 
have  said,  "  The  women  in  Spain  do  not  curtsey  ; " 
yet  I  should  have  been  shocked  to  see  a  Spanish 
lady  do  so.  I  have  been  looking  over  a  book  en- 
titled, "Travels  in  the  land  of  Monkeys,"  meaning 
England  and  France.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the 
work  is  originally  Spanish  or  Italian.  I  am  satisfied 
that  it  is  not  Spanish,  for  it  does  not  notice  what  a 
Spaniard  could  not  have  failed  to  set  down  in  those 
lands  —  a  different  salutation  for  males  and  females. 
Can  one  imagine  a  Roman  matron  curtseying  ?  A 
bobbing  up  and  down  of  the  body,  a  salutation  with 
the  legs,  and  no  inclination  of  the  head  ?  Surely  it 
was  invented  for  quadrupeds.  It  has  only  a  foreign 
name  in  English,  and  that  too  absurd  to  have  been 
applied  to  the  antic  in  its  native  tongue.  A  courtesy 
(courtoisie)  is  a  thing  courteous  ;  and  a  curtsey  was 
a  step  in  a  French  dance.     The  ladies  of  Spain  can 


SPANISH   MANNERS.  173 

dance,  but  cannot  curtsey.  *     To  salute — to  reverence, 
requires  that  the  noble  parts  of  the  body  should  be 
called  into  play.     There  is  nothing  so  good  that  it 
may  not  be  perverted,  and  the   best  then  becomes 
the  worst.      Curtseying  is   now  respectable  because 
men   have   taken   to   nodding,    and  poking  their  hat 
with  the  forefinger.      How   great   would   their   sur- 
prise  be,   if  they  heard    that  the   dominion  of  the 
world  may  hinge  on  a   form  of  salutation.      "Lan- 
guage," said  Ali,  "  is  the  mirror  of  the  understand- 
ing ;  manners,    of  the   man."      Bacon   tells   us   that 
"Reason  may  affect  the  judgment,  interest  the   con- 
duct, but  manners  alone  touch  the  heart."    It  is  by 
manners  that  the  teaching  of  the  child  begins  before 
he  has  learnt  his  letters.     Manners  are  the  curb  on 
the  passions.      They  are  the  guide  of  life  from  the 
cradle  to  the  tomb,  and  by  them  you  judge  of  the 
nation  as  well  as   of  the  man.     A   people's  history 
is  written   in  a  salutation.     Alwakide,  in  the  early 
days  of  Islam,  records  as  an  event,  that  a  man  re- 
ceiving sentence  of  death  had  not  saluted  the  judge. 

In  the  secluded  places  of  Spain,  even  yet,  on  the  bell 
tolling  at  "  oration,"  whoever  is  walking,  stops ;  who- 
ever is  seated,  rises  ;  the  prayer  concluded,  each  turns 
round  and  salutes  those  around  him.  What  can  be 
more  impressive  than  this  sudden  and  simultaneous 
act  of  adoration  of   a  whole   people,  followed  by  a 

*  A  lady  at  a  masquerade  dressed  in  raaga,  and  astonishing 
some  Spaniards  with  her  avonica  and  mialilto,  curtseyed ;  they 
immediately  detected  the  false  sister. 


174  SPANISH   COMPLIMENTS 

mutual  expression  of  goodwill  from  man  to  man. 
This  could  not  survive.  From  the  forms  of  saluta- 
tion meaning  is  not  yet  expelled.  No  one  sends  as  a 
message,  "  Give  my  compliments."  It  would  be 
asked,  "  What  compliments  1 "  The  Spaniard,  like 
the  Eastern,  says,  "  I  kiss  such  a  one's  hand,  or  I 
lay  myself  at  such  a  lady's  feet."  Our  word  com- 
pliment is  equal  to  their  word  ceremony  ;  and  our 
compliments  they  render  espressiones.  These  matters 
are,  however,  abridged.  The  espressiones  are  run 
up  in  an  unintelligible  articulation  when  spoken, 
and  when  written  are  reduced  to  a  cypher.  You 
may  receive  a  letter  ending  S.  S.  S.  Q.  S.  M.  B/'* 
and  take  it,  as  I  once  did,  for  a  charade  instead  of 
a  compliment. 

Unlike  the  Eastern,  the  Spaniard  has  the  word 
"  thanks ; "  but  it  is  not  his  sole  resource  in  the 
embarrassment  occasioned  among  some  nations  by 
every  act  or  speech  of  civility.  When  one  Spaniard 
says  to  another,  "  Do  you  please  to  eat  with  me  1 " 
the  other  does  not  say,  "  No,  I  thank  you  ;  "  but, 
"  may  it  do  you  good."  When  he  says,  "  This  house 
is  at  your  disposal,1'  the  answer  is  not,  "  I  thank 
you,"  or  "I  am  much  obliged  to  you,"  but  "You 
know  me  to  serve  you." 

Civility  and  ceremony  do  not  belong  to  particular 
classes.  There  is  not  a  refined  and  a  vulgar  class. 
The  humblest  address  each  other  with  the  forms  of 

*  Su  Seguro  Servidor  que  su  Mano  besa. 


AND  COURTESY.  175 

the  highest.  Two  human  beings  do  not  require  an 
introduction  to  know  each  other  ;  they  never  pass 
without  salutation.  No  one  breaks  bread  in  the 
presence  of  another,  whatever  the  difference  of  rank, 
without  an  invitation  to  partake.  The  title  of  the 
pastrycook  on  his  sign-board  is  no  other  than  that 
of  the  king.  The  master  is  as  courtier-like  to  his 
servant  as  to  his  equal.  The  beggar  is  not  turned 
away,  even  from  the  door  of  a  tavern,  and  when  he 
is  refused  by  a  prince,  it  is  with  the  words,  "  Pardon 
me,  brother." 

"  To  the  honour  of  Spain,"  says  even  Borrow,  "  be 
it  spoken,  it  is  one  of  the  few  countries  in  Europe 
where  poverty  is  never  insulted,  nor  looked  on  with 
contempt.  In  their  social  intercourse  no  people 
exhibit  a  juster  feeling  of  what  is  due  to  the  dignity 
of  human  nature.  I  have  said  that  it  is  one  of  the 
few  countries  in  Europe  where  poverty  is  not  treated 
with  contempt:  I  may  add,  where  the  wealthy  are 
not  blindly  idolized." 

Riches  and  poverty  are  deprived  of  their  peculiar 
qualities  ;  the  first  losing  the  value  which  they  owe 
to  exclusiveness,  the  other,  sufferings  contingent  on 
privation.  By  the  facile  interchange  which  these 
habits  have  established,  their  circumstances  are  influ- 
enced no  less  than  their  minds,  and  the  extremes  of 
fortune  are  modified  and  equalised. 

The  earth  may  not  be  scientifically  compressed  in- 
to the  rendering  of  its  fatness.  Man's  muscle  may 
not   be  condensed  into   minted   gain ;    but  what   is 


176  MUSSULMAN   HOSPITALITY. 

gathered  from  nature's  bounty  is  not  refused  to  man's 
wants.  If  Spain  produces  less  from  her  soil  than 
any  other  country  of  Europe,  the  Spaniard  enjoys  a 
larger  share,  and  more  equable  distribution  of  the 
produce  than  any  other  people. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  place  beside  this 
a  passage  descriptive  of  the  Moors  :  it  speaks  of  the 
law,  but  the  remark  is  prompted  by  the  practice. 

"  The  acts  of  common  charity  or  casual  alms  are 
almost  of  injurious  obligation  on  a  Mussulman ;  he 
dares  not  sit  down  to  dinner  without  inviting  those 
who  are  near  him  to  partake  of  it,  of  whatever 
condition  or  religion  they  may  be,  and  he  cannot 
refuse  assistance  to  any  poor  person  who  may  apply 
to  him,  if  he  have  the  means.  Hospitality  is  to  be 
exercised  towards  every  one  who  claims  it,*  without 
regard  to  religion." — Ali  Bey's  travels,  i.  95. 

It  would  require  no  further  evidence  than  this, 
that  in  Spain  is  to  be  found  domestic  affection, 
attachment  of  servants  and  master,  charitable  dispo- 
sitions, tenderness  for  the  afflicted,  and  aid  for  the 
necessitous.  A  man  here  truly  woos,  not  his  wife 
only,  but  her  relatives,  if  they  are  less  fortunate 
than  himself;  and,  when  families  fall  into  distress, 
they   are   supported  with  a  generosity  that  is   only 

*  I  quitted  this  mosque  after  having  left  a  considerable  sum 
to  the  beggars  who  besiege  the  door.  These  people  are  not,  indeed, 
very  troublesome,  for  they  are  all  registered,  and  their  chief  is 
the  only  person  who  asks  for  and  receives  the  gifts  of  the  faith- 
ful, which  he  divides  among  the  others." — Ali  Bey,  ii.  337. 


POLITICAL   IMPORTANCE    OF    POLITENESS.      177 

outdone  by  the  delicacy  with  which  it  is  applied  : — 
those  who  sink  in  the  world,  instead  of  losing  caste 
are  the  more  tenderly  considered. 

The  mere  habit  of  politeness  is  a  possession 
greater  than  all  a  people  has  besides,  and  for  the 
want  of  which  there  is  no  compensation ;  and  that 
tone  of  voice,  and  those  forms  of  address  which  in 
individuals  are  the  sign  of  proper  bringing  up,  are 
to  a  nation  the  source  and  stay  of  their  good  order 
and  well-being.  In  Spain  the  term  "  politico "  is 
still  synonymous  with  polite.  They  have  dignity, 
which  we  take  for  pride,  and  none  of  our  so-called 
ease,  which  to  them  is  vulgarity.  Therefore  did  they 
beat  France  when  all  Europe  was  at  her  feet,  and 
therefore  will  Spain  live  on  when  we  shall  have 
passed  away — unless,  indeed,  we  live  long  enough  to 
teach  them  our  civility. 

Chateaubriand  in  1805  anticipated  the  events  of 
1808.  He  said  :  "Spain,  separated  from  other  na- 
tions, presents  yet  to  history  an  original  character  : 
the  stagnation  of  manners  may  yet  save  her ;  and 
when  the  people  of  Europe  are  exhausted  by  corrup- 
tion, she  alone  may  re-appear  with  splendour  on  the 
scene  of  the  world,  because  the  foundation  of  manners 
is  still  undisturbed." 

Spain  has  been  called  a  "  fragment  of  Africa  ;*? 
the  Spaniards  have  been  called  "  the  Arabs  of  Europe." 
They  have  proved  alike  inscrutable  and  indomitable 
to  all  who  have  attempted  to  study  or  subdue  them  ; 
and  so  completely  has  that  peninsula  swayed  in  the 

VOL.  I.  N 


178  MADRID   NOT   SPAIN. 

events  of  our  world,  that  you  may  calculate  the 
ascent  or  the  decline  of  great  enterprises  according 
to  the  estimation  of  her  by  its  conductors.  Marius, 
Pompey,  Napoleon,  failed  through  their  misjudgment  of 
Spain  :  by  apprehending  her,  Caesar  won  the  diadem, 
Scipio  saved  his  country,  and  "Wellesley  Europe. 

Whenever  Europeans  have  judged  of  Spain,  they 
have  been  at  fault ;  whenever  they  have  acted  upon 
her,  they  have  failed  ;  whenever  they  have  adminis- 
tered nostrums  to  her,  she  has  suffered.  Madrid 
presents  the  features  of  European  governments  :  Spain 
preserves  the  character  of  the  Moorish  people  — the 
character  that  enabled  them  to  expel  the  Moors, 
in  after  times  the  English,  and  more  recently  the 
French  ;  and  the  capital  is  actually  in  arms  against 
the  spirit  of  the  age.  The  familiar  forms  we  see 
at  Madrid,  the  glibness  with  which  the  diplomatist 
speaks  of  this  thing  and  that,  this  party  and  that, 
paves  the  way  to  plans  and  schemes  ; — then  intervenes 
the  unknown  element,  the  spirit  of  the  Spanish 
people,  and  capsizes  all  the  plots. 

If  Europe  is  the  source  of  the  evils  of  Spain,  so 
is  Spain  the  source  of  the  dangers  of  Europe.  As 
she  cannot  leave  our  follies  alone  until  she  be  wise, 
so  can  we  not  leave  her  affairs  alone  till  we  be 
honest. 

It  requires  little  to  secure  the  good  will  of  a  Spa- 
niard :  in  fact,  it  is  secured  when  he  is  not  offended. 
A  question  addressed  with  deference  will  always  meet 
a  courteous  answer,  and  a  ready  offer  of  service  and 


THE   MERCHANT   AND  THE   BEGGAR.  179 

assistance.  If  you  ask  a  Spaniard  your  way,  he 
will  not  be  content  with  pointing  it  out  to  you  :  he 
will  generally  accompany  you.  If  you  exceed  the 
strict  bounds  of  civility,  you  lay  him  under  an  obliga- 
tion ;  if  you  do  less,  you  have  done  him  a  wrong,  which 
as  surely  he  will  remember.  A  little  kindness  goes  a 
great  way  j  and  the  worst  of  injuries  is  mistrust. 

An  English  merchant  in  this  neighbourhood,  having 
no  money  in  his  pocket,  gave  a  handful  of  cigars  to  a 
beggar :  the  poorest  Spaniard  will  be  more  gratified 
with  a  cigar  than  with  money,  as  it  is  a  compliment. 
Three  years  afterwards,  this  merchant  was  seized  near 
his  country-house  by  a  band  of  robbers.  While  they 
were  settling  his  ransom,  they  were  joined  by  an  ab- 
sent comrade,  who  instantly  dismounted  and,  ap- 
proaching the  Englishman,  saluted  him,  and  asked  if 
he  did  not  remember  having  given  at  such  a  place 
and  time  a  handful  of  cigars  to  a  beggar ;  then  turning 
to  his  comrades  he  said,  "This  is  my  benefactor — 
whoever  lays  a  hand  on  him  lays  it  on  me." 

On  turning  over  the  pages  of  a  writer  on  Spain,  I 
am  reminded  that  the  offer  of  the  house  is  nothing 
more  than  an  evidence  of  Spanish  hollowness  and  in- 
sincerity. The  offer  of  the  house  is  a  sign  of  civility, 
just  as  much  as  the  words,  "  Your  obedient  humble 
servant,11  and  these  words  are  just  as  much  an  evidence 
of  our  insincerity  as  the  "  offer  of  the  house." 

It  is  the  same  thing  with  the  offer  of  pot-luck.  When 
first  made,  it  is  declined.  But  when  the  answer  is, 
"  No  se  meta  usted  in  eso,'1  "  Do  not  trouble  yourself 


180  EASTERN   HOSPITALITY. 

in  that  matter,"  by  which  is  implied  that  no  engage- 
ment stands  in  the  way,  the  offer  is  then  again  re- 
peated and  accepted.  That  there  should  be  three 
questions  put  and  answered,  in  reference  to  an  invita- 
tion to  dinner,  will  be  construed  into  an  evidence  of  a 
want  of  hospitality.  Are  we  a  people  to  judge  of  hos- 
pitality 1  A  very  hospitable  person  (in  our  way)  I 
had  once  the  misfortune  to  arouse  to  fierce  indignation 
by  selecting  this  term  to  show  the  perversion,  in  mo- 
dern idioms,  of  classical  terms,  we  applying  the  Latin 
word  to  a  repast  from  which  are  excluded  those  to 
whom  the  Roman  hospitality  was  offered  —  the  poor 
and  hungry. 

Those  who  have  travelled  in  the  East  will  surely  not 
say  that  the  people  of  the  East  are  inhospitable ;  yet 
the  people  of  the  East  never  invite  you  to  dinner.  In 
fact,  hospitality  is  incompatible  with  invitations  to 
dinner.  Where  every  one  is  welcome,  it  is  impossible 
that  you  should  invite.  You  may  invite  a  person  for 
the  sake  of  his  company,  and  coming  to  you  at  the 
time  of  meals,  he  may  eat  with  you  ;  but  he  is  not 
invited  for  the  purpose  of  eating.  The  meal  offered  is, 
in  fact,  an  obligation  conferred,  and  must  be  felt  as 
such  by  a  person  of  delicacy,  and  will  be  accepted 
with  the  same  measure  as  any  other  favour.  Is  not 
this  the  interpretation  of  the  contempt  of  the  Romans 
for  the  Parasites  or  the  Dinner-hunters.  In  one  of 
the  Dialogues  of  Xenophon  the  difference  is  illustrated. 
Socrates  being  invited  to  supper,  at  first  refuses,  and 
only  accepts  after  a  due  reluctance  on  his  part,  and  as 


HOSPITALITY   ENJOINED   BY   SCRIPTURE.       181 

due  a  persistence  on  the  part  of  Amphytria, — Xenophon 
taking  care  to  point  out  that  he  had  acted  in  this 
respect  properly. 

It  is  acknowledged,  that  the  facility  of  intercourse 
in  France,  as  contrasted  with  England,  and  the  ease 
with  which  people  may  congregate  and  visit  each  other 
at  the  time  of  day  when  such  meetings  are  most  ap- 
propriate— the  evening — arises  from  the  absence  of 
formal  invitation  ;  in  other  words,  restriction  on  inter- 
course is  the  result  of  our  fashion  of  hospitality. 

A  word  is  even  misused  with  impunity,  and  here 
the  mistake  of  a  Latin  term  covers  the  perversion  of  a 
Christian  maxim.  The  hospitality  of  the  Romans  was 
that  of  Judaea.  The  manners  of  Judaea  are  the  matrix 
of  Christianity.  When  Christ  sent  forth  the  seventy, 
he  told  them  to  carry  no  scrip,  and  to  make  no  pro- 
vision. Wherever  they  first  entered  (were  received) 
there  should  they  abide.  They  were  to  eat  what  was 
set  before  them  (given  them).  Hospitality  was  the 
condition  of  the  reception  of  the  Gospel :  shall  it  be 
needless  for,  or  incompatible  with,  its  maintenance  ? 
Those  who,  in  Jewish  Canaan  or  Judaea,  had  no  place 
where  to  lay  their  head,  shook  off  the  dust  from  their 
feet,  in  testimony  against  those  who  received  them 
not.  In  Christian  England,  the  Apostles  of  the  Saviour 
would  be  sent  to  the  workhouse  or  put  upon  the 
treadmill. 

I  was  here  interrupted  by  a  visit  from  a  French 
merchant.  The  conversation  turned  upon  the  Spanish 
mercantile   character.      He  said,  there   is  no   public 


182      THE   SPANISH   MERCANTILE   CHARACTER. 

credit  in  our  sense,  but  there  is  real  credit,  for  man 
trusts  man.  A  great  traffic  had  been  carried  on 
through  the  Basque  provinces,  during  the  Continental 
blockade  :  no  books  were  kept ;  the  recovery  of  debts 
by  legal  process  was  impossible  ;  yet  was  it  distin- 
guished by  the  most  perfect  confidence,  and  entire 
absence  of  failures  or  embezzlement. 

The  statement  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  Mr. 
George  Jones,  of  Manchester,  who  managed  the  largest 
English  concern  in  the  Basque  provinces  during  the  war. 
He  had  no  clerks.  The  goods  were  disembarked  and 
put  in  warehouses.  He  could  keep  no  regular  ac- 
counts. The  muleteers  came  themselves  to  get  the 
bales,  and  all  he  could  do  was,  to  tell  them  what  the 
bales  contained,  and  to  receive  their  own  note  of 
what  they  had  taken  in  an  amount  of  300,000/., 
and  there  was  but  one  parcel  missing.  Several  years 
afterwards,  a  priest  brought  him  fifty  dollars,  which 
was  the  value  of  the  missing  bale  of  goods,  saying, 
"  Take  that  and  ask  no  questions/' 

My  visitor  related  to  me  the  following  anecdote  : — 
A  French  merchant  from  Bordeaux,  who  had  a  house 
at  Barcelona,  where  he  resided,  received,  in  the  course 
of  business,  a  large  sum  of  money  from  a  Spaniard 
at  a  time  when  he  was  much  embarrassed  in  his  affairs ; 
he  was  therefore  unwilling  to  receive  the  money,  and 
yet  fearful  to  refuse  it,  lest  his  credit  should  be  shaken. 
Shortly  afterwards,  he  failed  and  absconded.  His  cre- 
ditor traced  him  to  Gibraltar  and  thence  to  Cadiz. 
There  he  found  him  lying  sick,  without  attendants,  in 


THE   FRENCH    MERCHANT   AND  THE   SPANIARD.   183 

a  garret.  On  entering  the  room,  the  Spaniard  sternly 
demanded  his  debtor  s  books.  Receiving  them,  he  sat 
himself  down  and  spent  several  hours  examining  them, 
referring  to  the  Frenchman  merely  upon  points  where  he 
wanted  information.  When  he  had  completed  his  inves- 
tigation he  returned  the  books  without  comment,  and 
departed.  Shortly  afterwards  he  returned,  accompanied 
by  a  physician,  and  had  his  debtor  removed  to  a  com- 
fortable apartment,  and  then  addressed  him  thus  :  "  I 
am  satisfied  that  you  have  not  been  guilty  of  fraud ; 
but  you  have  done  me  a  great  wrong  :  had  you  been 
frank,  I  should  have  enabled  you  to  hold  your  ground. 
Now  that  we  are  in  the  same  boat,  let  me  know  how 
much  will  enable  you  to  re-commence  business." 
The  sum  being  specified,  he  said,  "Well,  you  shall 
have  it  upon  the  condition  that  you  pledge  me  your 
word  of  honour  that  you  will  not  leave  Spain  without 
my  permission."  The  debtor  was  about  to  pour  forth 
expressions  of  gratitude,  when  his  creditor  stopped 
him  :  "  It  is  you,"  said  he,  "  who  have  rendered  me 
a  service  f  and,  unbuttoning  his  coat,  showed  him  a 
brace  of  pistols,  adding,  "  One  of  these  was  for  my- 
self." My  informant  concluded :  "I  am  the  man, 
and  it  happened  under  this  roof." 

Those  who  come  to  Spain  to  see  something  that 
belongs  to  her,  would  not  wish  her  peculiarities 
to  be  diminished ;  those  who  wish  to  find  in  Spain 
what  they  can  have  in  Paris  or  in  London,  had  better 
stay  away.  In  travel,  profit  and  enjoyment  always 
coincide,    fur  none  can    profitably  travel  who  do  not 


J  84  TRAVELLING   IN    SPAIN,  AND 

go  to  seek  out  for  things  different  from  what  they  are 
accustomed  to,  and  none  can  agreeably  travel  but 
those  for  whom  it  is  an  enjoyment  to  be  and  to  feel 
like  the  people  of  the  country  in  which  they  are.  For 
my  part,  I  should  be  as  careful  to  possess  completely 
the  thought  or  the  habit  of  a  people  as  to  master  a 
problem  of  Euclid ;  and  as  careful  to  keep  distinct  in 
my  mind  the  thoughts  and  customs  of  one  people 
from  those  of  another,  as  if  they  were  medicines  or 
chemical  substances  ranged  upon  a  shelf.  There  is 
no  difficulty  in  learning  half-a-dozen  different  lan- 
guages ;  but  you  could  not  learn  one  if  you  jumbled 
in  every  sentence  the  words  of  your  own  tongue,  or 
converted  the  foreign  one  into  your  own  syntax.  If 
you  did  so,  the  knowledge  of  words  would  extinguish 
the  faculty  of  speech,  and  this  is  what  we  do  when 
we  reason,  in  our  own  country's  fashion,  on  the 
thoughts  of  another  ; — keep  these  distinct  and  you  can 
multiply  existence  as  you  can  multiply  languages. 
Then  you  can  put  yourself  in  the  place  of  a  French- 
man or  Italian,  and  will  know  what,  under  any 
given  circumstances,  he  will  think  or  do ;  this  you 
do  not  reason  upon,  and  therefore  are  sure  of. 

This  character  of  interest  scarcely,  indeed,  presents 
itself  amongst  the  people  of  Europe,  on  the  one  hand 
from  their  close  resemblance,  and  on  the  other  from 
the  extinction  of  habits  and  traditional  thoughts  ;  but 
when  you  get  into  Spain,  there  it  does  present  itself 
to  whoever  will  discriminate  it ;  the  word  of  every 
peasant  is  not  a  reverberation  of  a  proposition,  but  a 


HOW   BEST   TO   DO   SO.  185 

record  of  centuries.  To  one  who  feels  this,  Spain 
will  present  the  most  interesting  field  of  travel  in 
Europe  ;  to  one  who  does  not,  the  most  gratifying. 
An  English  resident  at  Gibraltar  told  me  that,  by 
following  a  certain  rule,  he  found  travelling  in  Spain 
very  agreeable,  and  recommended  it  to  my  adoption. 
He  said,  "  I  always  address  a  Spanish  peasant  as  if  he 
were  my  equal."  "  I  do  not  require/'  I  replied,  "  your 
rule,  for  I  feel  myself  honoured  whenever  a  Spanish 
peasant  condescends  to  speak  to  me." 

There  is,  however,  a  rule  not  only  by  which  to  make 
travelling  pleasant,  but  to  make  life  itself  so,  and 
that  is,  to  seek  for  and  see  in  others  only  what  is 
good  and  profitable,  in  order  to  correct,  or,  at  least, 
comprehend,  that  in  ourselves  which  is  useless  or 
faulty  ;  but  this  is  not  a  rule. 

Another  weakness  is  the  idea  of  being  able  to  rate 
enjoyments  or  estimate  hardships.  It  is  not  merely 
that  the  hardships  and  enjoyments  are  not  equal  in 
degree  when  similar  in  character,  but  very  often  they 
are  reversed.  A  German  coining  to  England  will 
complain  of  the  misery  of  hard  beds.  The  English, 
but  twenty  years  ago,  would  have  made  the  same 
complaint :  their  habit  is  changed,  their  enjoyments 
are  changed  with  them,  or  their  fancied  enjoyments 
are  changed. 

The  climax  in  the  picture  which  a  writer  draws  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  Spanish  nuns,  is  their  having  to 
go  about  bare-foot.  Tell  this  in  Scotland.  To  my- 
self there  cannot  be  a  greater  source  of  annoyance  and 


186  COMPARISONS   UNPROFITABLE   IN   A  TRAVELLER. 

vexation — there  is  nothing  in  which  I  have  a  greater 
sense  of  astonishment  and  surprise — than  at  nations 
wearing  shoes  and  boots.  The  whole  economy  of 
the  feet  in  Europe  is  something  as  disgusting  as  it 
is  marvellous.  We  see  the  poorer  orders  clogging 
themselves  with  heavy  shoes  out  of  doors,*  and 
the  wealthier  classes  confining  their  feet  and  soiling 
their  apartments  in  doors.  Those  who  have  lived 
in  Scotland  will  understand  the  first,  those  who  have 
lived  in  the  East  will  apprehend  the  second. 

In  regard  to  cookery,  costume,  and  forms  of  so- 
ciety, we  have  habits  formed  ;  and,  surely,  he  is  an 
unreasoning  being  who  proceeds  by  means  of  those 
habits  to  estimate  the  habits  of  other  nations  :  the 
consequence  of  attempting  to  do  so  is  a  vague  un- 
certainty of  spirit,  which  concentrates  itself  in  his 
eye  wherein  he  looks. 

The  useful  traveller  and  the  profitable  observer  will 
commence  by  a  process  the  very  opposite.  He  will 
set  aside  all  attempts  at  comparison  ;  he  will  eschew 
every  thought  and  judgment ;  he  will  know  he  has  to 
begin  by  lifting  himself  out  of  his  own  habits  and 
modes  of  thought,  in  order  to  place  himself  in  those 
of  the  country  which  he  visits.  He  will  do  so  by 
endeavouring  to  feel  like  them,  which  he  never  can 
do,  if  he  presume  for  a  moment  to  reason  about  them. 

Imlac's  description  of  a  poet  had  not  proceeded  to 
its  close  when  the  captive  Prince  of  Abyssinia  told 

*  A  peasant  in  the  New  Forest  once  said  to  me,  "  Shoe-leather 
drives  us  to  the  workhouse  :  it  costs  more  than  all  our  clothes." 


QUALIFICATIONS   OF   A   TRAVELLER. 


187 


him  he  had  already  said  enough  to  convince  him 
that  no  man  on  earth  could  be  a  poet ;  but  Imlac's 
catalogue  of  the  qualifications  of  a  poet  extended  no 
further  than  to  acquirements  and  talents.  The  quali- 
fications of  a  traveller  are  far  more  extensive ;  for 
while  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  possess  all  the  mate- 
rials of  which  a  poet  ought  to  be  possessor,  while  he 
ought  to  be  gifted  with  the  imaginative  qualities  in 
which  lives  the  poet's  very  essence,  he  should  also  have 
the  scrutinizing  eye  of  a  philosopher,  the  analytical 
spirit  of  a  metaphysician,  and  all  these  put  together 
can  only  be  of  use  when  lifting  him  out  of  his  times  : 
— they  restore  to  him  the  use  of  his  own  eyes  and 
ears. 


188  THE   RUINS   OF   CARTEIA. 


CHAPTER  XL 

CARTEIA. TYRE    AND    HER    WARES. GLASS. 

Every  time  I  left  the  "  Rock,"  or  returned  to  it,  I 
had  to  pass  round  or  through  the  ruins  of  Carteia, 
always  deferring  an  examination  of  them  to  a  special 
day.  At  last  that  day  was  fixed,  and  I  went  with 
three  friends,  who  more  or  less  indulged  in  Phoenician 
predilections — the  French  consul,  M.  Bero,  Mr.  Corn- 
well,  and  Dr.  Dunbreck.  We  talked  over  its  old  for- 
tunes and  great  names,  until  it  seemed  that  we  were 
paying  a  visit  to  Balbus,  and  had  made  an  excursion 
of  some  thousand  years.  "We  wandered  over  the  red 
earth,  which  is  a  mass  of  pounded  brick,  interspersed 
with  broken  marble  of  all  colours,  and  fragments  of 
mortar  which  here  and  there  showed  surfaces  smooth 
and  painted  like  those  of  the  walls  of  Pompeii.  We 
gathered  tiles  of  sundry  dimensions,  some  grooved  so 
as  to  fit  together  like  those  which  have  been  recently 
discovered  in  Arabia  ;  some  two  feet  square,  with  bor- 
ders raised  like  trays.  They  are  quarrying  still  here, 
to  build  little  boxes  like  those  on  Hampstead  Heath. 
In  one  place  they  had  opened  rows  of  amphorae 
standing  on   end.     The  only  building  which  can   be 


THE   AMPHITHEATRE.  189 

made  out  is  Roman, — the  amphitheatre, — it  is  on  the 
side  of  the  hill,  overlooking  the  bay  :  the  part  resting 
against  the  hill  still  stands,  even  to  the  upper  stories, 
to  commemorate  the  importance  of  this  first  colony, 
and  of  the  Romans,  the  settlement  of  the  Hybrides, 
the  Creoles  of  antiquity  ;  a  race  produced  from  Roman 
fathers  and  Iberian  mothers, — as  before  them  the 
Bastuli  were  from  Carthaginian  fathers  and  Iberian 
mothers.  It  is  curious  to  see  the  instinct  with  which 
a  Spaniard, — I  mean,  of  course,  the  educated  class, — 
will  catch  at  any  allusion  to  those  races  :  they  do  not 
relish  it,  and  do,  therefore,  understand  the  intellectual 
bastardy  of  their  own  nature.  It  is,  however,  strange, 
that  they  should  be  ashamed  of  association  with  a 
cross  which  produced  Hannibal  and  Asdrubal.  I  should 
like  to  see  how  they  would  have  taken  the  assimila- 
tion with  the  dry  and  rootless  stumps  of  men*  to 
whom  Spain  is  now  given  over. 

After  we  had  completed  our  researches  and  con- 
cluded our  homilies,  we  repaired  to  a  ruined  convent 
to  get  figs.  The  inmates  deal  in  relics,  and  the  stock 
was  principally  composed  of  flattened  drops  of  blue 
glass,  in  shape  and  size  resembling  peppermint  lo- 
zenges. They  must  have  been  in  enormous  quanti- 
ties, for  they  are  even  yet  picked  up  along  the  beach 
at  Cadiz  and  other  places.  Some  suppose  that  the 
Phoenicians  circulated  them  as  money — they  made 
money  out  of  them  by  disposing  of  them.    The  an- 

*  A  late  Queen  of  Spain,  speaking  of  colonization,  said, — 
"  Spaniards  now-a-days  have  no  roots." 


190  RELICS   OF 

cients  did  not  cut  stones  in  facets  ;  their  cups,  arms,** 
horse-trappings,  even  their  ships,  f  were  studded  with 
gems :  these  drops  were  adapted  to  this  purpose. 
These  were  gems  (glass  in  the  East  still  goes  by  that 
name)  :{  so  that  in  these  drops  we  had  the  staple  of 
Tyre,  hinted  at  by  Ezekiel,  when  he  spoke  of  "her 
riches  in  the  sand." 

In  like  manner,  on  the  Guinea  coast,  they  still  find 
drops  of  Phoenician  glass,  which  they  sell  for  their 
weight  in  gold.  We  have  in  vain  attempted  to  imi- 
tate them.  They  retain  this  value  although  Africa  is 
deluged  with  glass  from  every  work -shop  in  Europe. 
The  fact  is  of  importance,  as  bearing  on  traffic,  which 
Herodotus  makes  the  Carthaginians  carry  on,  and 
which  moderns  dispute.  What  must  glass  have  been 
when  the  knowledge  of  its  manufacture  was  a  secret ; 
when  the  people  who  possessed  it  worked  with  system, 
and  neither  glutted  the  market  nor  undersold  one 
another.    . 

Observing  at  the  bottom  of  a  large  chest  in  which 
their  curiosities  were  kept,  a  quantity  of  rubbish,  I 
had  it  turned  out.  There  were  all  sorts  of  strange 
things,  from  glass  lustre  drops  to  blacking  labels.  I 
selected  some  fragments  of  what  seemed  then  earthen 
jars  :  when  wetted  they  proved  to  be  glass  of  brilliant 

*  Stellatus  cuspide  fulva  ensis  erat.    jEn. 

t  The  antique  Turkish  galleys,  some  of  which  still  continued 
to  navigate  the  Black  Sea  fifteen  years  ago,  had  their  stems  and 
sterns  largely  ornamented  in  Venetian  glass. 

%  In  Turkish,  jam  is  applied  generally  to  glass :  the  Arabs 
restrict  it  to  the  bowl  when  empty. 


PHOENICIAN   GLASS.  191 

and  variegated  colours  ;  some  opaque,  some  translu- 
cent. On  one  there  was  a  flower  with  yellow  leaves 
and  a  red  centre  ;  the  ground  was  green  and  translu- 
cent ;  the  leaves  were  opaque,  the  leaves  twisted  in 
passing  through,  so  that  the  yellow  appeared  through 
the  green  as  if  shaded  with  a  brush.  On  the  other 
side  it  came  out  a  comet  with  a  red  head  and  a  yellow 
tail.  From  the  tombs  of  Egypt  and  Etruria  have  been 
obtained  specimens  of  the  same  manufacture  ;  but  I 
have  seen  none  equal  to  this. 

These  broken  fragments  seemed  to  change  in  my 
hands  into  a  magic  mirror,  in  which  were  reflected  the 
workshops  of  Sidon  and  Aradus,  smelting  to  order  the 
gems  of  Golconda.  What  is  the  Philosopher's  Stone  to 
their  daily  craft ! 

But  it  will  be  objected  that  the  Egyptians  were  ac- 
quainted with  it — that  it  is  found  as  far  back  as  the 
tombs  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  and  in  the  old  Pyramids 
of  Memphis  ;  and  that  glass-blowing  is  recorded  on  the 
walls  of  Beni  Hassan,  in  a  tomb  of  the  eleventh  or 
twelfth  dynasty.  *  Nevertheless,  I  think  I  shall  very 
easily  show  that  this  art,  so  far  as  the  Egyptians 
are  concerned,  was  the  peculiar  property  of  the 
Phoenicians. 

*  The  Egyptians  "  were  not  only  acquainted  with  glass,  but 
excelled  in  staining  it  of  diverse  hues,  and  their  ingenuity  had 
pointed  out  to  them  the  method  of  carrying  devices  of  various 
colours  directly  through  the  fused  substance." — Wilkinson. 
Abulfaragus  says,  it  was  known  to  the  Egyptians  soon  after  the 
flood ;  and  Diodorus  says  the  Ethiopians  used  it. 


192  GLASS   INVENTED   BY   PHOENICIANS, 

The  invention  is  by  all  antiquity  attributed  to  the 
Tyrians.  When  Pliny  wrote  there  were  still  histories 
of  Tyre  extant ;  still  traditions  as  well  as  interpreta- 
tions of  the  hieroglyphics.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  that 
if  it  had  been  Egyptian,  it  should  have  been  given  to 
any  other  people  ;  and,  if  not  Tyrian,  claimed  by  and 
surrendered  to  them.  Even  if  communicated  to  the 
Egyptians  at  the  period  when  it  figures  on  their  walls, 
it  may  have  been  for  many  previous  centuries  the 
exclusive  possession  of  Tyre,  for  the  Phoenicians  were 
of  equal  date  with  the  Egyptians/""  The  monuments 
of  Egypt  were  not  pictures  of  common  things,  but 
records  of  extraordinary  ones.  They  were  designed  to 
illustrate  the  lives  of  kings  and  heroes ;  representing 
their  triumphal  entries  ;  their  trophies  ;  the  tribute 
offered  ;  the  captives  brought  home  ;  the  arts  they 
introduced ;  the  inventions  and  incidents  of  their 
time.  We  have  in  them  a  few  repetitions  :  elephants 
are  there  :  they  are  seen  but  once  ;  a  cart  but  once  ; 
brick-making  once  ;  glass-blowing  once,  and  that  is  in 
the  reign  of  Sesu  Sesen,  consequently  I  will  not  say  that 
this  record  proves,  but  that  it  at  least  suggests,  that 
up  to  that  time  the  manufacture  was  unknown  in 
Egypt.  The  representation  is  not,  however,  of  glass- 
making;  it  is  of  blowing  only:  no  where  is  glass-mak- 
ing seen.  If  the  Egyptians  had  the  art  of  blowing 
glass  only,  they  must  have  imported  the  raw  material. 

*  Josephus,  scouting  the  arrogance  of  the  Greeks,  who  might 
be  said  "  to  be  of  yesterday,"  in  presuming  to  speak  of  Jewish 
history,  refers  them  to  the  "  Phoenicians  and  Egyptians." 


NOT   BY   EGYPTIANS.  193 

The  monument  of  Carnac  enumerates  among  the 
tribute  paid  to  Tathmes  III.,  "  ingots  of  enamel ;" 
and  this  tribute  was  paid  four  hundred  years  after  the 
glass-blowing  figures  on  the  walls.  The  material  for 
glass  abounded  in  Egypt.  They  were  dexterous  in 
preparing  mineral  compounds  for  colouring  :  had  they 
understood  the  manufacture  they  would  not  have  im- 
ported it ;  and  had  the  manufacture  been  known,  we 
should  have  seen  it  figured  with  the  blowing.  But  the 
Egyptians,  having  learnt  the  art  of  blowing,  would 
desire  to  have  the  unmanufactured  material  in  order 
to  adapt  it  to  their  own  fashions.  This  is  entirely 
confirmed  by  the  description  given  by  the  Egyptian 
priests  to  Herodotus ;  for  it  must  be  after  them  that 
he  designates  the  ornaments  of  the  sacred  crocodiles 
(which  we  know  to  be  glass),  XiOaw  %vray  fused 
stones. 

This  tribute  came  from  "Maharama,"  or  Mesopo- 
tamia, in  the  first  cities  of  which  the  Phoenicians  had 
establishments. 

Having  set  aside  the  claims  put  in  for  Egypt,  no 
other  people  making  any,  I  have,  I  think,  restored  the 
invention  to  the  Phoenicians. 

A  new  claim  has  now  been  set  up  for  the  Assyrians, 
according  to  Mr.  Layard.  "  They  had  acquired  the 
art  of  making  glass.  Several  small  bottles  or  vases  of 
elegant  shape  in  this  material  were  found  at  Nimroud 
and  Konyunjik."*  But,  strange  to  say,  in  the  very 
spot   where    he    came    upon    the    first    glass    vase 

*  Nineveh,  vol.  ii.  p.  421. 
VOL.  I.  0 


194  ANTIQUITY   OF   GLASS,   AND 

he  found  pottery,  with  letters  which  he  supposes  to 
be  Phoenician. 

The  Greeks  knew  nothing  of  the  art,  though  they 
possessed  the  substance.  Prometheus,  in  Eschylus, 
claims  the  honour  of  almost  every  invention — glass  is 
not  enumerated  among  his  titles  to  the  hatred  of 
Jupiter.  Socrates,  in  "  The  Clouds,"  tricks  a  bum- 
bailiff  out  of  his  wit  by  means  of  a  burning-glass."" 
From  the  Scholiast  we  learn,  that  these  were  sold  at 
the  apothecaries. 

This  burner  may  now  seem  of  another  substance,  of 
which  the  Phoenicians  had  possession — amber.  I  have 
seen  it  so  used  on  the  coast  of  the  Baltic,  being  formed 
in  the  most  primitive  manner  by  rubbing  between  the 
palms  of  the  hands.  Amber  was  supposed  to  attract 
the  sun's  rays,  as  it  did  various  substances,  whence  its 
name,  tkmrgw.  The  word  was  also  applied  to  glass,  f 
from  its  possessing  a  similar  quality.  There  may  be 
more  in  the  association  than  we  have  yet  discovered. 
Pliny  mentions  the  magnet  as  used  in  the  preparation 
of  glass.  The  Tyrians  employed  glass  as  artillery  ; 
they  discharged  what  was  called  "melted  sand"  at 
Alexander's  troops  in  storms  which  inflicted  torture, 
and  carried  dismay  and  agonies  against  which  no 
defensive  armour  could  avail.     The  Venetians,  follow- 

*  Servius  in  commenting  on  JEneid,  xii.  200,  says,  u  The 
first  inhabitants  of  the  earth  never  carried  fire  to  their  altars, 
but  by  their  prayers  brought  it  down  from  heaven."  The  Par- 
sees  of  India,  when  by  any  accident  their  fire  is  extinguished, 
use  burning  glasses. 

|   See  Scholiast  to  the  Clouds  of  Aristophanes. 


TO   WHAT   USES   APPLIED.  195 

ing  in  their  steps,  likewise  made  glass  their  artillery. 
The  first  shells,  and  perhaps  the  most  effectual,  were 
of  glass ;  they  are  still  to  be  seen  used  as  ink-bottles. 
But  the  art  seems  to  have  extended  from  burning 
glasses  to  microscopes  and  telescopes,  or  they  must 
have  had  eyes  differently  constituted  from  ours ;  for 
without  such  aid  we  could  not  make  out  valleys  and 
mountains  in  the  Moon  ;  the  milky-way  *  to  be  com- 
posed of  stars ;  or  count,  as  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve they  had  done,  the  satellites  of  Jupiter  and 
Saturn  :  and,  supposing  reflectors,  and  not  lenses,  were 
employed  to  survey  the  heavens,  we  can  hardly  escape 
from  acknowledging  their  claim  to  microscopes  and 
magic  lanterns,  f  Their  gems  could  not  have  been 
engraved  without  such  aid  ;  indeed,  we  require  glass 
to  make  out  the  figures  of  some  of  them  .J  Eye-glasses 
we   know  they   had,   from   Nero,   who,   being  short- 

*  Salanti,  vol.  i.  p.  285.  Aboulala  (4th  century)  says,  "  The  stars 
which  form  the  milky-way."  Aristotle  speaks  of  the  mirrors  for 
surveying  the  heavens.  Those  of  Memphis  and  Pharos  are 
often  mentioned.  Strabo  speaks  of  tubes  for  magnifying  ob- 
jects ;  such  tubes  are  mentioned  in  old  Arabic  writers. 

t  Damascius  (apud  Photium.  Biblioth,  cap.  242)  describes 
the  figure  of  a  head  thrown  upon  the  wall  of  the  temple  in  this 
manner,  which  could  only  be  done  by  a  magic  lantern. 

X  Theodorus,  who  constructed  the  labyrinth  of  Samos,  placed 
a  chariot  and  four  horses  on  the  finger  of  a  statue  of  himself ; 
the  chariot,  horses,  and  charioteer  could  all  be  covered  by  the 
wings  of  a  fly,  which  he  also  devised.  The  same  is  related  of 
Myrmecedes.  Callicrates  cut  insects,  the  limbs  of  which  could 
not  be  discovered  by  the  naked  eye.  See  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist., 
I),  xxxiv.  c.  5  ;  B.  xxxvi.  c.  5. 

o  2 


196  THE  WARES   OF  TYRE. 

sighted,  used  one  in  the  amphitheatre  :  it  is  called 
an  emerald.  One  of  the  personages  on  the  Greek 
stage  had  eyes  of  different  colours,  which  was  repre- 
sented in  his  mask,  and  of  course  by  coloured  glasses. 
All  these  were  the  "  wares  of  Tyre." 

In  after  times  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  trans- 
ferred to  Kome ;  but  in  the  early  period  the  Phoeni- 
cians must  have  supplied  glass  to  Greece  and  Italy,  as 
they  did  to  Egypt,  Assyria,  Spain,  and  Africa. 

In  the  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  in  which  Tyre  is  de- 
scribed, a  very  different  country  is  represented  as  send- 
ing to  Tyre  their  produce  for  "  her  wares  ;"  but  what 
the  "ten  thousand"*  wares  of  Tyre  were  nowhere 
appears,  unless  in  the  "treasures  hid  in  the  sand." 
We  know  of  no  wares  that  she  had  except  dyes  and 
glass  ; — dyes  implies  the  dyeing  of  stuffs  :  but  in  Phoe- 
nicia there  were  no  manufactories ;  and  she  is  herself 
represented  as  importing  manufactured  stuffs.  A  few 
glass-houses,  according  to  our  notion,  would  not  suffice 
to  compel  an  exchange  of  the  metal  of  Ogg,  and  the 
beasts  of  Deden,  and  the  pearls  of  Chittim,  and  the 
gold  of  Tarshish.  The  wares  consisted  in  the  dye 
itself  which  she  extracted  from  the  shells  of  her  own 
coast,  and  from  that  portion  of  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  they  were  in  like  manner  found,  and  the  drops 
of  glass  equivalent  to  gems,  to  prepare  which  a  few 
hands  sufficed,  and  on  which  the  profits  must  have 
exceeded  all  calculation^ 

*   Mvp  ayovres  dBvppara  vryi  peXaivrj. 

•j-   'Ayopd£ovT€s  top  apyvpou  pucpos  Tivbs  avriborcs  aXkav  (poprioov. — 

Strabo. 


COMMERCE   OF   THE   ARABS   AND   PHOENICIANS.     107 

The  great  nations  of  antiquity  eschewed  commerce 
and  navigation  :  they  lived  at  home.  It  is  the  pro- 
perty of  a  primitive  people  so  to  live  ;  and  that  con- 
centration of  life  upon  the  spot  must  be  the  character 
of  all  institutions  which  are  calculated  to  last  long. 
To  the  Egyptian  the  sea  was  unclean  :  the  Hindoo,  the 
Persian,  the  Chinese,  all  avoided  the  sea- trade.  Of 
the  tribes  nearly  allied  to  the  Phoenicians,  one  only, 
the  Arabs,  were  a  transporting  people ;  *  the  two 
monopolised  the  trade  of  early  times,  the  Arab  carry- 
ing on  the  traffic  of  the  desert  by  his  camels,  the 
Phoenician  that  of  the  sea  by  his  ships. 

The  great  nations  I  have  referred  to  were  not  anti- 
commercial  :  they  received  the  stranger  who  came 
amongst  them  as  a  friend ;  he  was  more — he  was  a 
guest  —  the  rites  of  hospitality  extended  to  whole 
tribes  who  came  to  settle  wherever  there  was  room  for 
them.  How  much  then  must  have  been  the  favour 
which  attended  the  arrival  and  settlement  of  trading 
strangers  1  There  could  have  been  in  Tyre  no  compe- 
titions, no  under-sellings,  no  combinations.  From  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  their  exchanges  there  must 
have  been  an  adaptation  of  the  profits  of  the  com- 
munity and  of  the  individual — a  union  of  traffic  and 

*  "  We  neither  inhabit  a  maritime  country,"  says  Josephus, 
"  nor  do  we  delight  in  merchandise,  nor  in  the  mixture  with 
other  men  that  arises  from  it.  Our  cities  are  remote  from  the 
sea,  and  having  a  fruitful  country,  we  take  care  in  cultivating 
that  only." 

In  the  expeditions  under  Solomon  it  is  expressly  stated  that 
the  men  of  Tyre  went  to  navigate  their  ships. 


198      DISPUTED   ORIGIN   OF  THE   PHOENICIANS. 

government.*  This  endured  for  not  less  than  one 
thousand,  and  may  have  extended  to  nearly  two 
thousand,  years. 

The  Phoenicians,  in  the  structure  of  the  old  world, 
may  be  compared  to  the  lime  cementing  the  blocks,  or 
to  the  veins  and  arteries  spreading  life  through  the 
body.  Phoenicia  was  the  smallest  of  states  :  arms  had 
no  part  in  her  growth,  conquest  no  share  in  her  great- 
ness. She  gathered  and  spread  around  the  produce  of 
the  earth  and  of  the  toil  of  man  :  its  business  was  on 
homely  and  vulgar  things.  More  than  the  mystery 
which  shrouds  the  antiquity  of  the  most  visionary,  is 
spread  over  the  origin  of  this  most  practical  of  people  ; 
our  profoundest  writers  are  at  variance  as  to  whether 
she  gave  to,  or  borrowed  from,  Greece  her  gods  ;  as  to 
the  form  of  government  which  prevailed  in  her  cities  ; 
as  to  the  taxes  imposed  on  her  merchandise.  The 
avowed  introducers  of  letters  into  the  Western  world 
alone  remain  without  the  record  of  a  written  page,  or 
of  a  chiselled  stone. 

We  see  in  this  society  dominion  without  conquest ; 
greatness  without  ambition  ;  permanency  without  num- 
bers ;  freedom  without  turbulence ;  commerce  without 
legislation ;  f  and  riches  without  pauperism.  Neither 
arrogant  in  their  strength,  nor  servile  in  their  weak- 

*  I  have  described  a  similar  state  of  things  as  existing  in  our 
own  times  at  Ambelakia  in  Thessaly,  and  the  Mademo  Choria  in 
Macedonia.     See  "  The  Spirit  of  the  East." 

+  "  Nothing  was  known  of  the  balance  of  trade,  and  con- 
sequently all  the  violent  measures  resulting  from  it  were  unknown 
to  the  Greeks  as  everything  was  decided  by  examinations 


COMMERCE   OF   PHOENICIA.  199 

ness,  they  could  abstain  from  encroachments  on  the 
Lybian  or  Iberian  populations,  who  afforded  them  a  set- 
tlement, and  maintain  their  peculiar  character  in  Mem- 
phis, Babylon,  and  Persepolis.  Their  commerce  paid  to, 
while  it  received  tribute  from,  every  shore  it  visited  ; 
and  was  enriched  in  the  aggregate  wealth  of  all  the 
wealth  it  bestowed.  Thus  did  it  take  tithe  of  the  spices 
of  Malabar  and  the  Philippines ;  of  the  frankincense  of 
Abyssinia  and  Arabia  ;  of  the  fine  linen  of  Egypt ;  of 
the  herds  and  camels  of  Deden  ;  of  the  corn  and  oil  of 
Judsea ;  of  the  ivory  and  ebony  of  Lybia  and  Hin- 
doostan  ;  of  the  gold  of  Spain  ;  of  the  tin  of  the  Cassi- 
terides  ;  of  the  amber  of  the  Baltic.  It  had  its  colonies 
and  its  stores  at  Taprobane,  as  it  had  them  at  Cadiz 
and  in  Britain. 

A  few  days  after  my  visit  to  Carteia,  I  was  looking 
over  some  coins  which  a  gentleman  at 
Gibraltar  had  collected,  and  was  as- 
tounded to  come  upon  one  which  is 
not  copied,  but  which  is  represented  in 
the  accompanying  wood-cut.45"  This 
told  the  whole  story  of  the  glass-houses  and  the  tin. 
I  wonder  if  the  coin  was  censured  as  indiscreet  at  Tyre. 

and  not  by  theories,  there  may  have  been  exceptions,  where  the 
state  for  a  time  usurped  a  monopoly.  But  how  far  was  this  from 
the  mercantile  and  restrictive  system  of  the  moderns." — Heeren 
Pol.  Hist.  Ancient  Greece,  c.  x.  163. 

*  The  coin  is  in  one  of  the  addenda  to  Flores ; — it  is  not  in 
the  copy  at  the  British  Museum.  The  coin  is,  however,  known 
in  the  medal  room. 


200     GROTESQUE  REPRESENTATION  ON 

How  is  it  that  by  putting  the  hand  in  this  fashion  to 
the  nose  the  fancy  should  be  tickled  \  Whence  did  the 
custom  come  I  how  did  it  travel  to  Britain  ?  One  is 
not  prepared  to  have  to  search  for  such  a  gesture  in 
the  Hebrew  Talmudists,  or  the  Greek  scholiasts ;  but 
here  it  is  raised  to  numismatic  dignity,  and  is  worthy 
of  the  philosopher. 

There  is  a  ludicrously  supercilious  animal,  very 
strong  and  very  stupid,  with  a  horn  on  his  nose,  be- 
longing to  Africa,  the  Holy  Land,  Mesopotamia — in  fact, 
all  the  Phoenician  countries.  He  was  the  Behemoth, 
for  of  no  other  animal  could  Job  be  thinking  when  he 
said,  "  With  his  nose  he  pierceth  through  snares " — 
the  horn,  emblem  of  victorious  strength,  denoting  by 
its  exaltation  its  own  achievements,  and  the  proud 
bearing  of  the  brow  on  which  it  is  planted.  Each 
year  gives  to  it  increase,  and  each  increase  is  marked 
by  a  wrinkle  which  comes  to  signify  acquirement. 
There  are  false  acquirements  as  there  are  true ;  and 
the  horn  of  the  nose  is  the  burlesque  of  the  horn  of 
the  forehead.  The  motion  that  is  given  to  the  hand 
shows  that  it  is  the  spiral  wreathings  of  a  horn  that 
are  imitated  :  the  rhinoceros  represents  the  one,  the 
unicorn  the  other. 

Of  the  two  images,  the  African  has  preserved  the 
grave  one,  we  the  grotesque.  The  Abyssinian  warrior, 
when  he  has  gained  a  victory,  adorns  his  forehead 
with  a  horn.  The  London  coalheaver,  when  he  has 
made  a  hit,  puts  his  thumb  to  his  nose. 

This  gesture  in  its  grotesque  form  was  known  not 


AN   ANCIENT   COIN.  201 

long  ago  in  Spain,  although  at  present  it  appears 
to  have  died  out.  Cervantes  unmistakably  describes 
it,  and  in  the  person  of  Sancho  Panza  ;  the  English 
have  therefore  the  sole  honour  and  distinction  of 
preserving  this  peculiarity  of  the  Phoenicians  and 
Etruscans.* 

I  might  be  inclined  to  place  beside  this,  the  groups 
of  lions  and  unicorns  at  Persepolis,  which  so  closely 
resemble  the  supporters  of  the  English  arms,  as  scarce- 
ly to  be  referable  to  coincidence.  They  are,  indeed, 
of  recent  adoption  as  the  arms  of  England,  but  of 
ancient  date  in  those  of  Scotland.  The  emblematic 
plants  of  England  were,  however,  those  of  Phoenicia — 
the  oak  and  the  ivy  ;  and  the  rose  of  England  is  still 
the  flower  of  Spain.  The  blood-red  hand  of  Ulster 
is  in  Morocco  stuck  above  every  door.  It  wants 
not  so  much  to  raise  the  thought,  or  justify  the 
association.  Instinctively  one  seeks  for  some  sympa- 
thetic deed,  which  shall  link  us  to  the  Phoenicians ; 
and  Spain  lies  between,  and  is  bound  therewith  :  she 
too  at  length  prides  herself  on  her  Moorish  blood, 
and  exalts  herself  (or  at  least  did  so  till  we  robbed  her 
fortress)   on  her  British   friendship  recorded   in   the 

proverb : — 

Guerra  con  toda  la  tierra, 
Pero  par  con  Ynglaterra. 

The  extinction  of  written  records  has  given  im- 
portance in  these  countries  to  every  trifling  usage  or 
tradition,  as  will  be  best  felt  by  reviewing  the  catalogue 

*  It  is  figured  on  a  vase  in  the  Museo  Borbonico. 


202  EXTINCTION   OF 

of  mischances  which  have  befallen  the  literature  of 
Africa,  and  of  the  great  people,  who  in  the  West  have 
given  to  it  its  celebrity. 

Alexander  destroyed  the  libraries  of  Tyre :  those 
of  Sidon  perished  in  the  flames  with  their  wealth  and 
themselves.  The  whole  mass  of  the  literature  of 
Carthage  was  destroyed  by  the  Romans,  except  a 
small  portion  given  to  Massinissa. 

The  Alexandrian  library  was  burnt  by  the  troops 
of  Julius  Caesar.  The  various  collections  made  at 
Rome  by  Asinius  Pollio,  Augustus,  and  Tiberius,  were 
lost  in  the  fires  under  Nero  and  Titus.  Domitian 
endeavoured  to  repair  the  disaster  by  getting  the 
manuscripts  of  private  collections  copied,  and  ransack- 
ing Africa  for  the  lost  works  :  these  were  deposited  in 
the  Temple  of  Peace,  and  destroyed  by  fire  under 
Commodus. 

Finally,  the  gleanings  of  Rome  were  carried  off  by 
Genseric  and  lost  at  sea.  The  persecution  of  the 
Donatists  led  to  the  burning,  all  over  Africa,  of  books 
and  manuscripts.  The  Mussulman  conquests  led  to 
fresh  burnings,  and  the  great  African  collections  of 
Alexandria  again  perished  under  Omar. 

The  600,000  volumes  of  Cordova,  and  the  enormous 
collections  of  the  learned  cities  of  the  Moors,  perished 
by  Christian  and  Gothic  hands.  The  library  of  Tunis 
was  destroyed  by  Charles  V. ;  Muley  Hassan  lamented 
it  more  than  his  city.  After  the  ravages  of  war  had 
ceased,  Cardinal  Ximenes,  the  munificent  patron  of 
literature,   consigned   to   the  flames    88,000   African 


AFRICAN   LITERATURE.  203 

manuscripts.  Lastly  came  the  capture  of  the  library 
of  the  King  of  Morocco,  a  portion  of  which  constitutes 
the  collection  of  the  Escurial,  and  this  again  has 
suffered  by  fire. 

Thus  have  been  swept  away  the  literary  records  of 
this  quarter  of  the  globe,  as  completely  as  devouring 
sands  and  the  human  ravages  of  more  recent  times 
have  effaced  all  local  signs.  The  curiosity  of  the  tra- 
veller is  arrested  on  its  inhospitable  shores;  the 
research  of  the  antiquarian  baffled  by  the  scantiness 
or  uncertainty  of  data.  Her  history  remains  what 
her  interior  still  is  :  we  can  wander,  guided  only  by  the 
stars — little  points  of  light  that  shine  only  because  of 
the  surrounding  darkness. 


204  THE   MAGNETIC   NEEDLE,   AND 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE    STONE    OF    HERCULES. 


"  Behold  thou  art  wiser  than  Daniel ;  there  is  no  secret  that 
they  can  hide  from  thee." 

"  The  wise  men  that  were  in  thee,  0  Tyrus,  were  they 
pilots  I  " 

The  magnetic  needle  has  become  so  essential  in  the 
economy  of  the  world,  that  we  can  hardly  imagine  the 
consequences  which  would  ensue,  were  it  suddenly  to 
lose  its  power.  It  is  not,  however,  difficult  to  pic- 
ture the  sudden  and  gigantic  growth  of  any  one 
commercial  state,  which,  in  such  a  contingency, 
should  discover  the  means  of  restoring  its  efficacy,  and 
preserve  the  secret. 

To  what  pitch  of  greatness  must  not  any  state  have 
ascended,  which,  from  the  beginning,  had  been  fa- 
voured and  distinguished  by  such  a  possession  1  It 
would  take  tithes  from  the  harvests  of  every  land ; 
the  produce  of  every  zone  would  furnish  its  marts, 
the  toil  of  every  race  fill  its  coffers ;  and  if  by  weak- 
ness, wisdom,  or  integrity  it  did  abstain  from  plotting 
and  scheming,  and  contented  itself  with  driving  its 
trade,  and  meriting  by  using  its  fortune,  the  other 


BY   WHOM   DISCOVERED.  205 

states  of  the  world,  instead  of  hating  it,  and  combining 
to  destroy  it,  would  favour  and  cherish  it  as  a  common 
benefactor. 

There  is  an  ancient  people  whose  history  I  have  in 
the  above  supposition  described,  whose  growth  and 
duration  are  in  no  ways  to  be  accounted  for,  as  in  the 
case  of  any  other  state  ;  who  had  neither  number  nor 
territory,  yet  who  ascended  to  the  loftiest  pinnacle 
of  dominion,  competed  with  Egypt  in  antiquity, 
and  endured,  more  than  twice  told,  the  career  of 
Rome. 

We  are  constrained  to  give  credence  to  the  facts  ; 
but  the  cause  escapes  us.  To  admit  is  one  thing — to 
comprehend  another.  To  comprehend  the  growth 
of  Phoenicia,  we  must  embody  at  least  every  known 
element  of  prosperity,  and,  amongst  these,  at  least 
so  much  of  the  aids  of  navigation  as  the  polarity  of 
the  needle  affords. 

The  proposition  naturally  arouses  a  host  of  contra- 
dictory suggestions.  "  If  the  ancients  had  it,"  it  will 
be  said,  "  we  could  not  have  failed  to  have  known  it ; 
we  are  acquainted  with  everything  connected  with 
their  seamanship,  their  voyages,*  &c.  It  never  could 
have  been  lost.  If  any  one  people  had  it,  it  must 
have  become  known  to  the  rest.  Our  pre-eminence 
in  navigation,  discoveries,  and  commerce  is  essentially 
associated  with  the   compass.      Why   did    they  not 

*  "Numberless  passages  of  Greek  and  Latin  authors  prove 
that  the  ancients,  when  they  lost  sight  of  land,  had  no  other  guide 
than  the  stars." — Puoens,  Tresor  des  Origine3,  p.  190. 


206         THE   PHOENICIANS  THE  DISCOVERERS 

reach  America  ?  *  How  did  it  remain  for  us  to  make 
the  discovery  % " 

These  are  all  the  objections  I  have  been  able  to 
discover  :  they  are  all  preliminary,  and  are  adjusted 
to  a  mark  which  I  do  not  present,  viz.,  the  word 
"  ancients."  Substitute  the  word  "  Phoenicians,"  and 
they  fall  to  the  ground. 

The  "ancients,"  are  to  us  Greeks  and  Romans. 
Very  different  men  were  those  traders,  whose  acute  and 
vivid  genius,  flexible  to  all  things,  could  cover  up,  and 
conceal,  what  the  brain  had  devised,  or  the  hand  ac- 
quired. Those  traders  had  no  Penny  Magazine,  and 
published  no  Price  Current.  Undenying  at  home, 
they  were  selfish  abroad  ;  they  kept  to  themselves 
what  they  knew,  and  did  not  overreach  one  another 
for  the  profit  or  pleasure  of  strangers.  Even  in  our 
own  times,  secrets  are  kept  by  large  bodies  of  men, 
about  nothing,  and  for  no  end.  The  needle  would 
have  been  a  talisman  to  the  state  exclusively  possess- 
ing it ;  to  a  few  entrusted,  not  as  an  instrument,  but 
as  an  oracle  or  a  god.f 

Of  all  factitious  props,  secretive  habits  are  the  most 
powerful.  The  art  of  the  Thaumaturgist,  calculated 
in  all  other  countries  merely  to  strike  the  vulgar  with 
awe,  became  to  them  an  element  of  political  greatness 
and  commercial   profit.      They  were  ready  to   shed 

*  "  Had  the  Saracens  known  the  compass,  it  was  for  them  to 
have  discovered  America." — Voltaire,  Ep.  sur  les  Moeurs,  c.  cxlix. 

t  The  Phoenician  name  for  the  compass  was  interpreted  by  the 
Greeks  "  unknown  gods." 


OF  THE  MAGNETIC  NEEDLE.        207 

blood  for  indiscretion  or  mischance.  Patriotism,  the 
mysteries,  and  natural  science  formed,  by  their  inter- 
lacing fibres,  that  strong  yet  flexible  tissue  which 
enveloped  and  concealed  the  Phoenician  polity,  and 
remained  unchanged  from  the  time  when  it  served  as 
swaddling-bands  to  an  infant  community,  to  the  hour 
when  it  wrapped  as  cerecloth  the  clay  from  which  fate, 
and  not  malady,  had  driven  life.  Reveal  the  polarity 
of  the  needle  !  Tyrians  suffer  the  secret  of  the  com- 
pass to  be  extorted  !  He  who  could  conceive  such 
a  thing,  may  be  learned  in  books,  or  perhaps  learned 
in  history,  but  not  in  men.  Yet  this  is  the  sole 
argument  of  the  sceptics.  "It  could  not  have  been 
concealed."  Who  was  to  find  it  out  ?  Was  curiosity 
of.  Greek  or  Roman  to  beat  Punic  astuteness  1  Were 
stripes,  or  chains,  or  death,  to  conquer  Punic  endu- 
rance %  and  who  had  the  thought  of  exerting  the  one, 
or  employing  the  other  \ 

The  sceptics  are  no  less  ignorant  of  seamanship: 
nothing  was  more  easy  than  concealment.  We  must 
not  start  by  picturing  a  binnacle,  exposed  by  day,  and 
lighted  by  night — a  quartermaster  conning  by  it,  and 
a  steersman  looking  at  it,  second  by  second,  in  pre- 
sence of  ship's  company,  passengers,  and  strangers. 
We  must  bring  before  us  habits  of  navigation  formed 
without  this  aid  ;  mariners  guiding  themselves  by 
night  by  the  stars,  and  lying  to,  when  these  could  not 
be  seen ;  or  perhaps  with  the  instinct  of  the  islanders 
of  the  Pacific,  finding  their  path  through  darkness,  by 
watching  the  angle  of  incidence  of  waves  and  wind, 


208  DIMENSIONS  AND   NAVIGATION    OF 

rating  the  effect  of  one  on  the  direction  of  the  other, 
and  thus  by  approximation  holding  on  till  the  lights 
reappeared.  The  heaven  or  the  ocean  was  the  bin- 
nacle. They  would  seek  from  the  needle  what  we 
seek  from  the  Sextant,  —  conference  and  counsel. 
The  instrument  so  used  by  master  or  mate,  is  to  our 
sailors  as  unknown  as  the  astrolabe  or  divining- 
rod.  The  navigator  works  out  his  place  upon  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  and  lays  down  the  course  ;  but 
the  formula?  are  to  him  as  much  a  secret  as  the 
instrument  is  a  mystery  to  the  crew.  The  Phoeni- 
cian skipper  might  refer  to  his  magic  Cup  in  secret : 
an  approximation  was  all  that,  without  the  sextant 
and  dead  reckoning,  could  be  desired,  and  that 
only  in  case  of  doubt  or  difficulty  arising  from  bad 
weather. 

Modern  writers  make  a  sad  jumble  whenever  they 
touch  ancient  navigation.  They  transfer — but  not  as 
a  sailor  would  do — the  ideas  derived  from  our  practice, 
which  in  most  things  is  changed,  in  some  reversed. 
Men-of-war  now  exceed  merchantmen  in  dimensions, 
as  much  as  the  merchantmen  formerly  exceeded  the 
men-of-war.  A  Phoenician  vessel  was  able  to  stow 
500  emigrants,  with  provisions  for  a  long  voyage, 
and  required  for  masts  the  cedars  of  Lebanon.  They 
carried,  in  the  earliest  period,  heavy  substances  from 
the  farthest  points ;  the  timber  of  India  is  found 
amongst  the  tombs  of  Egypt.  To  apply  to  their 
navigation,  the  passages  descriptive  of  the  row-boats 
of  the   Greeks   and  Romans,  is    a   solecism   and  an 


PHOENICIAN   VESSELS.  209 

anachronism  :*  they  neither  made  their  way  by  the 
speed  of  oars,  nor  sheltered  themselves  by  hauling  up 
their  vessels  upon  the  beach  ;  their  craft  stood  in  the 
same  relation  to  the  [jucck^  pccvg  the  longa  navis,  as  the 
trading  vessels  of  Spezzia  and  Hydra  during  the  Greek 
war  to  the  pirate  Mysticoes:  one  of  these  darting 
from  under  a  low  reef,  would  scatter  a  convoy  of  the 
largest  vessels,  like  a  wolf  among  a  flock  of  sheep. 
How  could  commerce  have  been  carried  on  in  vessels 
that  required  oars  to  pull  them,  at  the  rate  of  ten 
men  to  a  ton,  the  crews  of  which  had  to  land  for  their 
meals  ? 

It  is  only  by  collecting  the  local  traditions  of  distant 
regions,  by  comparing  the  records  of  various  nations, 
the  writings  of  different  times,  by  analyzing  the  names 
of  places,  f  and  reasoning  upon  all  these  various  data 
at  an  interval  of  twenty  centuries,  that  we  are  dis- 
covering the  extent  of  the  settlements  of  the  Phceni- 

*  This  was  written  before  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Smith's 
interesting  work  on  the  "  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul." 
He  has  vindicated  ancient  seamanship  as  to  dimensions  of  vessels, 
length  of  voyage,  working,  &c.  One  deficiency  in  that  work  has 
been  supplied  by  Humboldt  in  "  Cosmos,"  in  reference  to  calcula- 
tion of  distances,  or  the  "  Log." 

t  The  original  names  of  Greece  and  the  Islands,  of  Asia 
Minor,  the  Black  Sea,  Spain,  France,  Italy,  and  England,  are 
indelible  monuments  of  the  presence  and  wisdom  of  the  Phoeni- 
cians. Plato  refers  reverentially  to  the  men  who  gave  the  first 
names.  Bochart,  in  the  preface  to  "  Pheleg,"  enumerates  about 
400  names ;  for  instance,  Parnassus,  Ithaca,  Malaga,  Samos, 
Marathon,  which  are  without  meaning  in  Greek.  It  is  descrip- 
tive in  Hebrew  and  Arabic, — that  is,  in  Phoenician. 

VOL.  I.  P 


210  CONCEALMENT   OF  THE   DISCOVERY 

cians.  They  had  hidden  their  footsteps  and  concealed 
their  ways  from  the  wise  *  alike  and  from  the  simple  : 
who  can  tell  how  many  secrets  lie  buried  in  their 
tomb? 

If  I  have  shown  that  the  ignorance  of  "classical 
writers  "  is  neither  an  argument  nor  an  objection,  the 
other  objection  that,  "  if  known,  it  could  not  have  been 
lost/'  falls  to  the  ground,  for  if  concealed,  it  must  have 
perished  with  the  possessors.  It  is  strange  that,  having 
regained  it,  we  do  not  detect  its  ancient  vestiges,  and 
are  unable  to  interpret  the  words,  names,  and  phrases 
which,  to  the  initiated,  unmistakably  reveal  it.  After 
Galileo,  we  detected  in  antiquity,  by  a  passage  of  Pytha- 
goras, the  knowledge  of  the  science  of  music.  From 
similar  indications,  we  found  out,  after  we  possessed  the 
knowledge  ourselves,  that  the  whole  scheme  of  the 
heavens  was  understood  by  them.f     After  Franklin 

*  To  7rdpo-Q) 

A'  etn  <ro(po'is  aftarov 
Kqaocfrois,  ov  nf]v  8ta>£a>  kcvos  e'trjv- 

Pind.  Olymp.  3. 
He  is  speaking  of  the  region  beyond  the  Pillars. 

t  In  the  twelfth  century,  B.C.,  Thschen-li  records  a  measure- 
ment of  the  solstitial  shadow,  which  La  Place  found  accordant 
with  the  theory  of  the  alteration  of  the  obliquity  of  the  Ecliptic. 
Cosmos. 

The  Babylonian  astronomical  observations  sent  by  Callisthenes 
to  Greece,  have  been  calculated  by  Simplicius  to  extend  back 
1903  years  before  Alexander  the  Great. 

Mr.  Colebrooke  has  settled  the  date  of  one  of  the  Vedas  to  be 
the  fourteenth  century  B.C.,  by  the  place  given  to  the  solstitial 
points  in  a  calendar  appended  to  it. 

"  That  the  planets  and  their  courses,  the  comets  and  theirs, 
that  gravitation    and   repulsion  were  perfectly   familiar  to  the 


OF  THE  MAGNETIC  NEEDLE.        211 

had  drawn  down  lightning,  we  apprehended,  for  the 
first  time,*  what  chance  had  befallen  Salmoneus,  Ser- 
vius  Tullius,f  and  Sylvius  Alladus.J  Yet,  if  any 
discovery  might  be  supposed  to  be  notorious  and 
incapable  of  concealment,  and  therefore  not  liable  to 
perish,  it  would  be  the  calling  down  of  thunder  and 
lightning,  signalized,  too,  by  the  catastrophes  of  a 
prince  of  Greece,  a  lucumon  of  Alba,  a  king  of  Rome, 
and  an  eastern  legislator.§ 

Although  the  great  ancient  states  did  not  pursue 
the  sea  trade,  the  Phoenicians  were  not  without  com- 
petitors. The  Pelasgi,  the  Etruscans,  the  Greeks  were 
their  equals  in  seamanship.     The  two  latter  were  far 

priests  of  Memphis,  though  unknown  to,  or  rather  repudiated 
by,  the  most  learned  and  philosophical  of  the  Greeks,  cannot 
to-day  be  questioned.  They  know  the  milky  way  to  be  composed 
of  fixed  stars,  and  the  sun  to  be  a  fixed  star." — Drummond's 
Origines,  b.  iv.  c.  6  ;  b.  vii.  c.  8. 

"  Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  French 
astronomers  found  with  surprise  that  there  existed  in  Siam  a 
mode  of  calculating  eclipses  by  successive  operations  worked 
with  numbers  apparently  arbitrary.  The  key  of  this  method 
has  been  long  lost." — Occult  Sciences,  vol.  i.  p.  191. 

*  Unless  the  words  of  Rabelais  are  to  stand  for  the  preco- 
cious discrimination  of  his  age  : — "  Qu'est  devenu  l'art  d'evoquer 
des  cieux  la  foudre  et  le  feu  celeste,  jadis  enseigne  par  le  sage 
Promethee  1 " 

t  "  Guided  by  Numa's  books,  Tullius  used  the  same  ceremonies, 
but  through  inaccuracy  (parum  rite)  he  perished,  struck  by  the 
lightning." —  Lucius  Piso  apud  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  1.  xxviii.  cap. 
11.     Livy  uses  the  expression  pravd  religione. 

t  "  Fufmineo  periit  imitator  fulminis  ictu." — Ovid.  Metam. 
1.  xiv.  v.  617. 

§  Suidas,  verbo  "  Zoroaster."     See  also  Miiller. 

p  2 


212   MARITIME  ENTERPRIZE   OF  THE  PHOENICIANS. 

more  powerful.  They  reserved  the  long  voyage  by 
no  navigation  laws,  and  must  have  been  in  possession 
of  some  exclusive  knowledge.  The  compass,  however 
it  might  aid,  is  not  absolutely  required  in  many  long 
voyages.  The  Pacific  was  peopled  without  it.  Within 
the  Mediterranean  the  land  served  to  guide,  weather 
shores  to  protect.  These,  and  the  tides,  aided  the 
navigator  all  round  Europe.  The  monsoons  wafted 
him  along  on  the  Indian  Ocean.  But  there  was  one 
voyage,  which,  with  none  of  these  aids,  the  Phoeni- 
cians, and  they  alone  of  all  antiquity  performed,  — that 
of  Western  Africa.  It  was  upon  that  coast,  and  in 
sight  of  its  insurmountable  natural  difficulties,  that 
the  idea,  here  developed,  first  occurred  to  me.  I  then 
turned  to  the  records  of  antiquity,  and  to  those  first 
and  best  pages  of  history,  the  myths,  and  found 
confirmation,  and  what  rocks  and  reefs,  blasts  and 
currents  had  taught  me. 

Seated  at  the  water-shed  of  the  East  and  of  the 
West — at  the  fountain  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Persian  Gulf — the  Phoenicians  passed  down  both,  and 
issuing  into  the  Indian  and  Atlantic  oceans,  visited 
the  furthest  regions  of  the  earth.  It  was  their  pro- 
vince to  gather  the  produce  of  every  land ;  so  must 
it  have  been  their  aim  to  collect  the  inventions  of 
every  people.  If  anywhere  the  magnetic  needle  had 
been  discovered,  they  would  have  been  sure  to  find  it ; 
and  if  applied  only  to  the  land,  most  certainly  would 
they  adapt  it  to  their  own  element. 

This  discovery  required  no  high  standard  of  science. 


THE  MODERN  COMPASS.  213 

It  could  not  have  been  reasoned  to  a  priori ;  by  acci- 
dent alone  could  it  have  been  found  out.  There  is  in 
it,  therefore,  nothing  to  flatter  the  self-love  of  any,  or 
to  militate  against  referring  it  to  the  very  earliest  ages 
or  the  rudest  people. 

The  discovery  is  claimed  by  modern  civilization,  and 
is  one  of  those  upon  which  it  most  prides  itself.  The 
place,  the  inventor,  the  precise  date  are  all  known  ; 
and  though  by  one  section  of  literary  men  the  honour 
is  referred  to  China,  and  by  another,  indications  of  some 
sort  of  compass  are  admitted  elsewhere,  and  at  anterior 
dates,  still  the  compass  in  its  present  shape,  and  in 
its  practical  use,  is  next  to  universally  attributed  to 
Flavio  de  Gioja,  of  Amalphi,  in  the  year  1302. 

The  perusal  of  the  catalogue  of  the  Escurial  sug- 
gested to  M.  Villemain  the  remark,  that  most  of  the 
modern  discoveries  of  which  the  date  and  the  name  of 
the  inventor  are  set  down  as  certain,  were  no  more 
than  inventions  of  the  Arabs,  which  he  had  appro- 
priated. Such  in  this  case  was  the  fact.  Amalphi, 
the  earliest  of  European  commercial  states,  arose  under 
the  Greeks  and  the  Saracens.  To  the  latter  people  it 
owed  the  lead  it  took  in  instruction  and  navigation. 
Centuries  and  generations  before  Flavio  de  Gioja,  the 
needle  was  known  at  Amalphi. 

The   magnet*  in   its  attracting   power,   was   well 

*  This  word  is  found  in  the  pharanks  or  dictionaries  of  the 
Persians,  and  is  described  as  the  iron-attracting  stone.  It  is 
mentioned  in  the  Talmud.  It  was  known  to  the  Hindoos,  as  it 
was  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 


214  REASONS  FOR  ASSERTING  THAT  THE 

known  to  the  Arabs,  from  the  Greeks,  Persians,  and 
Jews.  But  they  gave  a  new  name,  which  shows  that 
they  had  become  acquainted  with  its  polarity,  which 
indicated  the  use  to  which,  by  them,  it  was  applied, 
Kiblah  Nameh.  Finding  the  direction  towards  the 
Kiblah,  of  course  it  would  serve  to  direct  the  caravan 
through  the  desert,  and  the  caravel  at  sea.  If  addi- 
tional proof  be  wanting,  the  name  supplies  it. 

*'  Mariner's  compass,"  "  magnetic  needle,"  are  para- 
phrases ;  but  in  the  countries  surrounding  the  Medi- 
terranean, it  has  a  name — Boussole,  for  which  no 
European  etymology  can  be  found.*  The  Arabic 
afforded  none,  for  by  no  process  could  Kiblah  Nameh 
be  emended  into  the  root  of  Boussole.  There  is,  how- 
ever, an  Arabic  word,  which  has  escaped  our  lexico- 
graphers. The  figure,*  which  designates  the  north  is 
mouassola.^     When  Europeans  first  saw  the  instru- 

*  Those  assumed  are  "Buxus,  Buxolus,  Buxola,  Bussola, 
Boussole."— Menage.  "  Buso,  Ital.  eye  of  a  needle." — Covar- 
ruvias.  "  Boxel,  English.'"— Pougens.  "BruTLZ,  Spanish,  sor- 
cerer."    "  Boursole,  French,  little  purse." — P.  Labbe. 

,t  This  figure  being  now  a  Fleur  de  Lis,  the  French  claim  the 
invention.  The  profound  Germans  surrender  it  to  them  as  a 
national  property.  Voltaire,  however,  remarks  that  the  Fleur  de 
Lis  was  the  cognizance  of  Naples  at  the  time  of  Flavio  de  Gioja. 

X  The  term  "  Mouassola  "  is  preserved  to  this  day  among  the 
Mussulmans  in  connection  with  their  religious  edifices.  It  sig- 
nifies the  square  open  space  corresponding  with  the  Fane  of  the 
Etruscans,  in  which  the  two  festivals  of  the  Bairam  are  held, 
and  where  consequently  the  Mussulman  sacrifice  is  performed. 
The  connection  is  evident,  but  how  it  is  to  be  established  I  am 
not  at  present  prepared  to  say.  Cf.  Hariri.  Chresth.  Arabe, 
i.  191  ;  iii.  167. 


MAGNET   WAS   KNOWN   TO   THE   ARABS.        215 

ment,  this  point,  the  leading  one,  was  doubtless  pointed 
to  and  named.  From  Mouassola  to  Boussola  the  transi- 
tion is  easy ;  M.  and  B.,  being  labials  and  cognate 
letters,  and  in  some  dialects  of  the  Arabic  constantly 
transposed.  The  Greeks,  the  intermediaries  between 
the  Arabs  and  Europe,  still  possessed  Amalfi,  which 
became  a  maritime  state  ;  Arabic  and  Greek,  not 
Latin  and  Italian,  were  spoken  there ;  and  in  modern 
Greek  the  word  for  compass  is  written  M^oy^oXa. 

The  Arabic  affords  another  etymology,  and  while 
either  may  have  served,  both  may  have  concurred  to 
give  us  our  word.  The  abstract  which  has  been  pre- 
served of  El  Edressi's  "Geography  of  Spain,"*  has 
this  sentence,  "  The  outer  ocean,"  that  in  which  the 
compass  was  necessary,  "is  termed  El  Bahar  el  Bossul 
(the  violent),  as  distinguished  from  the  interior,  or 
El  Bahar  el  Muit" 

European  writers  derive  the  compass  from  the 
Arabs,  f  The  Arabic  geographers  absolutely  decline 
this  honour.^    They  refer  the  invention  to  the  Chinese. 

*  I  picked  up  this  little  work  at  a  book-stall  of  Cadiz.  A 
Spanish  translation  is  printed,  page  for  page  with  the  Arabic,  and 
thus  it  was  that  I  fell  upon  the  word.  It  so  happened  that 
I  chanced  on  it  midway  between  the  two  seas.  Consult  Khabil 
Dhaheri.     Apud  Ch.  Arabe,  ii.  13  et  seq. 

+  Tiraboschi,  iv.  1.  xi.  §  35  ;  Andrea,  Orig.  UOgni  Letter.  ; 
Gueguenne,  Hist,  de  la  lit.  Italienne,  iv. 

X  Consult  El  Edrisi  on  the  "  Straits  of  Babel-Mandel,"  the 
"  Arabian  Book  of  Stones,"  as  quoted  by  Bailak  Kibdjak,  the 
"  Treasury  of  Wonders,"  as  quoted  by  El  Edrisi ;  Ptolom.  i.  vi.  2 ; 
Palladius,  de  Gentibus  Indiae  \  S.  Ambrosius,  de  Moribus  Brach- 
manorum  ;  Anonymus,  de  Bragmanibus  :  ed.  Bissams,  Lond.  1665, 


216  CLAIMS  OF  THE  CHINESE  TO 

They  quote  a  Chinese  name,  Kya-poun,  meaning,  as 
they  assert,  a  board  marked  with  lines.  The  Chinese 
claim  the  discovery,  and  have  and  use  the  instrument. 
It  is  of  their  own  make  and  fashion,  divided  accord- 
ing to  a  rule  of  their  own,  and  connected  with  various 
astronomical  and  geographic  points  which  we  are 
unacquainted  with. 

The  Jesuits,  who  have  been  such  judicious  observers 
and  accurate  describers  of  China,  unanimously  sup- 
port the  same  conclusion.*  Klaproth,  in  a  letter  to 
M.  Humboldt  "  Sur  l'lnvention  de  Boussole,"  argues 
in  the  same  sense. 

Humboldt,  in  his  recent  work,  "  Cosmos,"  answers 
as  follows  the  letter  addressed  to  him  by  Klaproth. 

"  Although  a  knowledge  of  the  attracting  power  of 
the  loadstone,  or  of  naturally  magnetic  iron,  appears 
to  have  existed  from  time  immemorial  among  the 
nations  of  the  West,  yet  it  is  a  well  established  and 

*  P.  Martini  (Hist.  p.  106),  P.  Amiot  (Abrege  chronologique 
de  l'histoire  de  la  Chine,  contained  in  the  collection  of  the 
Memoires  sur  les  Chinois,  torn,  xiii.),  Mailla  (Hist.  Gener.  de  la 
Chine,  Paris,  1777,  torn.  i.  p.  317),  P.  Gaubil  (Astronomie  Chi- 
noise),  Sir  G.  Staunton  (Embassy  to  China),  M.  Roding  (Diet. 
Polyglotte  de  Marine),  W.  Josh.  Hager  (Dissert,  sur  la  Boussole), 
contend  that  from  time  immemorial  the  Chinese  were  in  posses- 
sion of  the  magnet.  That  the  compass  came  from  the  Chinese  to 
the  Europeans,  through  the  Arabs,  is  maintained  by  Bergeron 
(Hist,  des  Sarrazins,  p.  119).  Riccioli  (Geogr.  et  Hydrogr.  Ven. 
1672.)  Mention  is  made  of  the  compass  afloat  in  the  third 
and  in  the  fifth  centuries  of  our  era.  "  There  were  then  (Tsin 
dynasty)  ships  directed  to  the  south  by  the  needle." — Poi-wen- 
jeu-fou,  or  Great  Encyclopedia. 


THE  INVENTION   OF  THE  COMPASS.  217 

very  remarkable  historical  fact,  that  the  knowledge  of 
the  directive  power  of  a  magnetic  needle,  resulting 
from  its  relation  to  the  magnetism  of  the  earth,  was 
possessed  exclusively  by  a  people  occupying  the  eastern 
extremity  of  Asia.  The  Chinese  for  more  than  a 
thousand  years  before  our  era,  at  the  obscurely 
known  epoch  of  Codrus  and  the  return  of  the  Hera- 
clidse  to  the  Peloponnesus,  already  employed  magnetic 
cars,  on  which  the  figure  of  a  man,  whose  movable 
outstretched  arm  pointed  always  to  the  south,  guided 
them  on  their  way  across  the  vast  grassy  plains  of 
Tartary.  In  the  third  century  of  our  era,  at  least 
700  years  before  the  introduction  of  the  compass 
in  the  European  seas,  Chinese  vessels  navigated  the 
Indian  *  ocean  with  needles  pointing  to  the  south. 
I  have  shown  in  another  work  f  what  great  advan- 
tages in  respect  to  topographical  knowledge  the 
magnetic  needle  gave  to  the  Chinese  geographers 
over  their  Greek  and  Roman  contemporaries,  to 
whom  for  example,  the  true  direction  of  the  moun- 
tain chains  of  the  Apennines  and  the  Pyrenees 
always  remained  unknown."  J 

These  writers  conceive  that  they  have  settled 
the  question  by  tracing  the  invention  from  the  Chi- 
nese to  the  Arabs.     This  at  least  is  established,  that 

*  Arago,  in  the  Annales  de  Chimie,  t.  xxxii.  p.  214;  Brewster, 
Treatise  on  Magnetism,  1837,  p.  Ill;  Baumgarten,  in  the  Zeit- 
schrift  fur  Phys.  und  Mathem.  bd.  ii.  s.  419. 

t  Humboldt,  Examen  critique  de  l'Histoire  de  la  Geographie, 
t.  iii.  p.  3G. 

%  Cosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  169. 


218  DESCRIPTION    OF 

the  Chinese  had  the  compass  at  the  period  of  the 
greatness  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  if  they  did  not 
use  it  on  the  ocean,  traversing  Tartary  with  it, 
brought  it  within  reach  of  the  Phoenicians,  who,  as 
I  shall  show,  knew  the  stations  through  Tartary  to 
China. 

Now,  our  instrument  offered  intrinsic  evidence  of  a 
parentage  wholly  distinct  from  the  Chinese. 

The  north  is  the  leading  point.  The  axis  of  the 
globe  cut  at  right  angles  by  the  equator,  gives  the 
four  points  which  we  term  cardinal,  which  are  then 
subdivided  into  eight,  sixteen,  and  thirty-two  (the 
latter  appears  to  be  comparatively  modern).  These 
constitute  the  points  which  serve  the  mariner,  and 
are  employed  in  directing  the  course  of  the  vessel  and 
steering  it.  The  circle  is  then  divided,  according  to 
the  astronomic  measurement  of  the  globe,  into  360 
degrees. 

These  Points  and  Degrees  are  figured  on  a  card 
affixed  to  the  needle,  and  revolving  with  it  on  a  pivot, 
so  that  the  helmsman  has  the  circle  of  the  earth  before 
him,  and  has  to  bring  the  vessel's  head  (marked  by  a 
line  in  the  cup  in  which  the  card  and  needle  float) 
to  that  point  of  the  circle  towards  which  he  is  directed 
to  steer. 

In  every  respect,  save  the  polarity  of  the  needle, 
the  Chinese  compass  differs.  The  south,  taking  the 
negative  for  the  positive  polarity,  is  made  the  leading 
point :  it  is  not  marked  by  any  mouassola  or  figure, 
but  painted  red.     There  is  no  cross,  and  consequently 


THE  CHINESE  COMPASS.  219 

no  centre.  The  needle  bisects  merely  the  instrument. 
There  are  no  cardinal  points.*  The  first  subdivision 
is  into  eight,  the  second  into  twenty-four;  avoiding 
sixteen  —  that  essential  number  of  augury  and  of  the 
Hindoos,f  &c.  This  is  the  nautical  part  of  the  in- 
strument, and  occupies  four  of  the  concentric  circles 
that  are  traced  on  the  broad  plate  which  surrounds 
the  instrument ;  then  succeed  ten  other  circles, 
through  which  the  radii  of  the  first  four  are  not 
continued,  and  where  figure  a  variety  of  words  and 
divisions,  which  no  one  has  explained,  and  which  the 
highest  authorities  confess  their  inability  to  compre- 
hend. The  astronomic  degrees  on  the  outer  circle  are 
not  equal  to  one  another,  and  amount  to  about  three 
hundred  and  eighty.  Although  the  needle  revolves, 
it  is  not  on  a  pivot,  but  on  a  point  which,  like  the 
letter  t,  descends  into  the  wood  of  the  box,  and  there 
turns  in  a  socket.  No  card  is  affixed  on  it  :  it  tra- 
verses as  an  index,  pointing  to  the  scale  of  the  circle 
traced  on  the  box.  That  the  Chinese  knew  the  varia- 
tion of  the  needle,  and  had  accurately  fixed  that  of 
Canton,  expressing  it  by  the  converse  signs,  has  been 

*  Klaproth  speaks  of  the  "  cardinal"  points,  not  apprehending 
the  value  of  the  term.  In  Meredith  the  "  four  points"  are  given 
in  Chinese,  so  also  CuULeet  (Cutlet). 

f  "  Those  who  have  not  been  in  India  cannot  know  how  all- 
important  the  division  of  everything  into  sixteen  parts  is,  or 
some  multiple  or  sub-multiple  of  that  number :  not  only  is  the 
money  of  the  country  so  divided,  and  all  the  weights  and  mea- 
sures, but  all  property  is  divided  into  annas  (sixteenths)  :  in 
conversation  it  is  the  usual  expletive  of  quantity." — Ferguson's 
ff%ndodan}  Intro.,  p.  12. 


220  COMPARISON    BETWEEN  THE 

established  by  M.  Klaproth,  and  might  have  led  him 
to  doubt  the  theory  he  has  so  boldly  asserted,  of  ours 
being  derived  from  theirs.  Thus,  the  Chinese  compass 
differs  from  ours  toto  ccelo,  there  not  being  a  single 
point  in  which,  even  by  accident,  we  have  hit  upon 
the  same  method.  A  junk  and  a  Phoenician  galley, 
or  an  English  collier,  are  not  more  dissimilar:  both 
sail  the  seas,  and  both  direct  the  ship  —  there  all 
resemblance  begins  and  ends. 

The  Chinese  instrument  had  been  used  on  land  for 
many  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  It  had  been 
adopted  in  navigation  at  least  in  the  third  century  of 
our  era.  It  existed,  therefore,  in  the  form  in  which  we 
now  see  it,  long  antecedent  to  its  use  in  the  West.  It 
is  as  serviceable  as  ours  for  every  purpose  of  naviga- 
tion. Why  should  we  have  reversed  the  whole  order  ? 
How  could  we  have  done  so  with  that  uniformity  which 
prevails  in  all  the  countries  of  the  West  % 

But  there  is  still,  if  possible,  a  stronger  argument. 
The  needle,  when  first  used  by  the  Arabs,  received 
only  a  temporary  polarity ;  the  Chinese  give  to  theirs 
a  permanent  polarity.  The  former  process  was,  there- 
fore, a  step  in  the  discovery  :  had  it  been  borrowed 
they  would  have  at  once  used  the  perfect  method. 
The  process  is  thus  described  in  1242  by  Boulak 
Kibdjaki. 

"  They  take  a  cup  of  water,  which  they  shelter  from 
the  wind  ;  they  then  take  a  needle,  which  they  fix  in 
a  peg  of  wood  (reed),  or  a  straw,  so  as  to  form  a  cross. 
They  then  take  the  magnes  and  turn  round  for  some 


ARABIAN   AND   CHINESE   NEEDLE.  221 

time  above  the  cup,  moving  from  left  to  right,  the 
needle  following.  They  then  withdraw  the  magnes, 
after  which  the  needle  stands  still  and  points  north 
and  south."  * 

This  description,  confirmed  by  the  authorities  cited 
below,  can  leave  no  doubt  that  we  have  arrived  at 
the  same  end  as  the  Chinese  by  a  different  road. 
The  invention  of  Flavio  di  Gioja  may  have  consisted 
in  giving  to  the  needle  permanent  polarity :  the  next 
step  would  be  of  course  to  fix  it  on  a  pivot,  which 
again  differs  from  the  Chinese. 

I  beg  particular  attention  to  this  manner  of  using 
the  instrument  by  the  Arabs,  as  by  it  we  shall  be 
subsequently  enabled  to  interpret  the  Greek  myths. 

*  The  passage  of  Brunetto  Latini  {Lib.  du  Tresor,  MSS.  du 
Roi,  No.  7609),  is  too  well  known  to  quote ;  but  I  subjoin  a 
curious  fragment  of  a  letter,  attributed  to  him,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  "  Monthly  Review"  of  June,  1802.  It  appears  to 
me  to  be  of  indubitable  authenticity.  He  is  describing  the 
wonders  shown  him  by  Roger  Bacon,  who  was  a  disciple  of  the 
Arabs,  and  had  studied  at  Cordova,  like  Gerbert,  Abelard,  and 
all  the  distinguished  men  of  the  period: — "La  magnete  pierre 
laide  et  noire,  ob  el  fer  volon tiers  se  joint,  Ion  touche  ob  une 
aiguillet  et  en  festue  Ion  fischie  (fix  it  on  a  piece  of  reed); 
puis  Ion  mette  en  laigue  (float  it  on  the  water)  et  se  tient  dessus, 
et  la  pointe  se  torne  contre  l'estoille :  quand  la  nuit  fut  tene- 
brous, et  Ion  ne  voie  estoiUe  ni  lune,  poet  li  mariner  tenir  droite 
voie." 

"Acus  ferrea,  postquam  adamantem  contigerit,  ad  stellam 
septentrionalem,  quae,  velut  axis  firmamenti,  aliis  vergentibus, 
non  movetur,  semper  convertitur,  unde  valde  necessarius  est  navi- 
gantibus  in  inari." —  Jao.  de  Vit.  Uistor.  Hyeromlymit.  c.  89, 
a.  d.  1215. 


222  DERIVATION   OF 

Here  we  have  the  compass  consisting  of  a  needle,  a 
cup,  and  a  stone,  carried  separately,  and  brought 
together  when  consulted.  The  Arabs  shut  themselves 
out  as  the  inventors — we  have  shut  out  the  Chinese. 
The  distribution  of  the  circle  must  have  come  to  the 
Arabs,  together  with  the  magnet  and  needle  :  it  could 
only  come  from  ancient  augury.  The  officer  and 
priest,  whose  title  has  been  given  to  the  science, 
marked  out  all  bounds  for  consecration,  building,  or 
other  purposes,  and  commenced  by  drawing,  on  the 
spot  where  he  stood,  the  line  of  the  axis  of  the  globe, 
the  cardo  crossing  it  by  the  synatorial  or  decumonus. 
In  the  augurial  operations  the  terrestrial  and  celestial 
globes  were  made  the  counterparts  of  each  other,  and 
the  heavens  were  distributed  into  sixteen  parts* 

Divination  was  rather  ars  Etrusca,  and  we  are  in 
the  habit  of  referring  its  source  to  that  people  ;  but 
the  Etruscans  had  no  compass.  Divination  was  no 
more  original  in  Etruria  than  in  Rome.  It  was, 
indeed,  the  key-stone  of  their  state,  the  link  of  science 
and  government,  of  astronomy  and  priesthood ;  but 
they  came  to  Italy  a  perfect  state,  and  Tarchon's 
genius,  symbolized  by  the  head  of  a  man  and  the 
body  of  a  child,  replaced  the  matured  science  of 
Canaan  on  the  young  soil  of  Ausonia. 

As  in  the  West,  those  ceremonies  in  which  religion 
was  united  with  science,  and  which  therefore  marked, 
not  as  they  would  with  us,  ignorance  and  superstition, 

*  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  xviii.  p.  213.  M  tiller's  Etriisker,  "  On  the 
Temple,"  vol.  iii.     Niebuhr's  Rome,  app.  to  vol.  ii.  p.  624. 


THE  ARS   ETRUSCA.  223 

but  learning  and  enlightenment,  are  traced  home  to 
one  particular  people,  and  received  their  name,  so 
also  was  it  in  the  East.  Though  dim  the  echoes 
(gzotsivcci  cckoou)  that  have  been  handed  down  to  us, 
we  still  recognise  the  voice  and  name  of  the  mas- 
ters of  whom  Abraham  was  the  disciple.  In  Europe, 
letters  were  Phoenician ;  in  the  East,  the  learned 
were  Sabeans.  Rome  got  her  ceremonies  from  Cere. 
The  Cerethims  were  Sabeans.  From  the  Sabeans  the 
Mussulman  had  his  Rekaat ;  the  Polytheist  his  In- 
cense ;  the  Jew  his  Teraphim.  Therefore  the  Ars 
Etrusca  was  derived  from  the  early  seats  of  the 
Phoenicians. 

After  fruitless  attempts  to  discover  the  etymology 
of  cardo*  it  occurred  to  me  that  as  the  other 
names  of  winds,  and,  consequently,  of  the  points 
of  the  compass,  had  been  derived  from  those  of 
the  countries  across  which  they  blew,f  so  might 
this  be  a  geographic  term,  and  might  be  found  to 
the  north  of  Sabea  or  Chaldaea.  The  mountain  on 
which  the  human  race  took  refuge  from  the  deluge  is 
so  placed,  and  bore  this  very  name.f     Cardo  was  then 

*  The  name  Cardaces  among  the  Persians  is  said  to  be  derived 
from  "  courage,"  "  virtue."  Such  words  are  generally  derived 
from  the  names  of  tribes  whose  qualities  are  thus  conveyed. 

t  Thus,  on  the  north  coast  of  Africa,  the  south  wind  is  called 
Giblu,  the  north  wind  Baharu,  because  the  one  blows  from  the 
mountains,  the  other  from  the  sea. 

%  The  Tasguments,  Jonathan  and  Onkelos,  say  that  the  ark 
rested,  the  former  on  Kardon,  the  latter  on  Kardu. — Drummond's 
Origines,  vol.  i.  p.  69. 


224 

the  primitive  geographic  point  for  the  countries  which 
were  the  cradle  of  the  human  race  and  the  nurseries 
of  science,  and  the  term  could  only  be  derivative  in 
Italy.  The  north  star  was  the  Kiblah  of  the 
Sabeans* 

Two  people  severally  discovered  the  various  branches 
of  naval  architecture  and  navigation.  The  ends  were 
attained  by  both ;  the  means  they  used  were  wholly 
different,  both  belonging  to  the  earliest  constituted 
societies,  both  from  periods  antecedent  to  history, 
navigating  the  Indian  ocean.  They  alone  construct- 
ing vessels  of  large  burthen,  alone  possessing  that 
navigation. 

The  word  "  Phoenician,"  is  a  great  stumbling-block 
in  these  inquiries.  There  was  no  people  so  called. 
It  is  a  word  of  Greek  invention!  and  construction. 
As  there  were  Carthaginians  or  inhabitants  of  Car- 
thage, so  were  there  inhabitants  of  Tyre,  and  inhabi- 
tants of  Sidon.  The  Cerathians,  who  occupied  the 
adjoining  territory,  were  simply  *  citizens,"  as  distin- 
guished  from   the    "  Nomades,"   or  "  Skenites,"  and 

*  Four  thousand  years  ago  the  polar  star  was  a  Draconis. 
See  Herschell  on  the  Entrance  to  the  Pyramid  of  Gizeh,  apud 
Vyse. 

t  P'hn  does  occur  in  the  hieroglyphics  as  the  name  of 
a  people,  but  who  they  are  is  not  known.  Sharu  is  the 
general  name  given  to  the  Phoenicians  or  "  Celequins,"  as  the 
Turks  say  to-day  Shaerli,  otherwise  the  name  of  the  town 
is  used.  As  Homer  has  it  :  "  Speak  of  the  fortress  in  the 
waters,  Taru  of  the  Sea  is  its  name.  Water  is  carried  to  it 
in  boats.  It  has  fishes  for  bread."  JBritish  Museum  Papyrus, 
PI.  Lv. 


THE    "SEA-FARING   ARAB."  225 

Perizzites,  the  inhabitants  of  "unwalled  villages."* 
The  word  Phoenix,  or  red,  is  identical  with  Adam, 
Edom,  or  Erythria.  The  Greeks  so  called  them  as 
coming  from  the  Red  Sea.  In  the  time  of  Alexander, 
the  Greeks  found  that  they  were  also  settled  on  the 
Persian  Gulf,  and  that  there  was  the  metropolis,  of  which 
the  Sidon  and  the  Tyre  of  Syria  were  the  daughters, 
as  of  these  in  subsequent  times  another  progeny  was 
to  be  found  in  Leptis,  Utica ;  Carthage,  Carthagena  ; 
Troy  on  the  Scamander,  and  Tor  in  Devonshire. 

For  the  word  Phoenician  we  must  then  substitute, 
or  by  it  we  must  understand,  "Sea-faring  Arab."  The 
tribe  which  took  to  these  enterprises,  had  of  course 
its  early  establishments  on  the  Red  Sea,  the  southern 
shores  of  Arabia,  the  Persian  Gulf,  that  is,  on  Arabian 
soil,  then  it  would  reach  to  the  Persian  and  Abys- 
sinian coasts.  The  next  stage  would  be  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean.  They  would  construct  on 
that  sea  such  vessels  as  those  with  which  they  navi- 
gated the  Indian  Ocean,  and  are  thus  celebrated  by 
the  Greeks  as  the  inventors  of  ships. 

There  is  therefore  no  difficulty  in  placing  the 
Phoenicians,  in  so  far  as  antiquity  is  concerned,  on 
a  level  with  the  Chinese,  and  in  so  far  as  geography 
is  in  question,  on  the  same  field  of  navigation  and 
commerce.  Yet  the  two  systems  are  as  opposite 
as  it  is  possible  for  the  imagination  of  man  to  con- 
ceive. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  Chinese  junk,  had  any  one 
*  From  /"WHS)  perazoth,  dwellers  in  unwalled  villages. 

VOL.  1.  0 


226      CHINESE  NAVAL  ARCHITECTURE. 

said  that  he  had  deciphered  from  the  Eugubean  tables 
that  the  discovery  of  America  had  been  made  by  a 
large  vessel,  which  had  neither  stem  nor  stern,  kelson 
nor  transom-beam,  neither  iron  for  its  anchors,  hemp 
for  its  cables,  canvass  for  its  sails,  pitch,  oakum,  stand- 
ing-rigging, rudder  pintles,  or  pumps  ;  —that  with  a 
taffrail  standing  forty  feet  above  the  water,  it  was  not 
caulked — whoever  believed  the  story  would  have  been 
set  down  as  foolishly  credulous  and  stupidly  ignorant. 

Men,  after  the  original  conception,  are  but  blind 
practisers  of  what  they  have  been  taught,  and  see  only 
what  they  already  know  :  with  all  our  travellers  and 
sailors  in  China  and  in  India,  no  one  in  Europe  could 
have  imagined,  that  the  Chinese  had  an  original 
scheme  of  naval  architecture  the  very  converse  of 
ours,  attaining  the  end  in  no  instance  by  the  means 
which  we  employ,  and  standing  in  relation  to  ours 
as  a  cetcaeous  animal  to  one  of  the  mammiferas — 
as  a  turtle  to  a  man. 

The  Chinese  might  have  seen  Phoenician  vessels 
for  3,000  years  before  ours  came  round  the  Cape. 
They  have  imitated  them  as  little  as  they  have  since 
copied  ours.  Vasco  di  Gama  found  the  compass  in 
these  seas,  not  in  junks  but  in  vessels  constructed  like 
ours  :  ours  are  the  continuation  of  those  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians*   They  left,  doubtless,  a  progeny  in  the  Indian 

*  Our  best  vessels  are  on  the  lines  of  the  old  French,  which  in 
the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  were  copied  from  the  Turks,  who  had 
them  from  the  Byzantine  Greeks,  who  originally  derived  them 
from  the  Phoenicians. 


TRANSMISSION    OF  THE   PHOSNICIAN  COMPASS.   227 

Ocean  as  well  as  the  Mediterranean.  As  in  naval 
architecture  neither  of  the  styles  could  have  been 
copied,  and  each  must  have  been  original, — so  is  it 
with  their  compasses;  neither  could  have  been  copied 
from  the  other,  and  the  invention  must  have  been  in 
each  case  separately  made. 

A  secret  such  as  this  could  be  preserved  and  trans- 
mitted only  by  constant  use.  How  then  could  it  have 
come  from  Phoenicia  to  us  ?  Augury  had  been  swept 
away  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  A  thousand  years 
had  run  their  course  between  the  fall  of  Tyre  and 
the  maritime  enterprises  of  the  Saracens.  Thirty 
generations  had  gone  to  the  tomb. 

The  difficulty  I  fully  admit  and  feel.  I  oppose  to 
it  the  intrinsic  evidence  offered  by  the  instrument, 
and  the  impossibility  of  referring  it  to  any  other 
race,  Chinese,  Mussulman,  Arabs,  Hindoos,  or  to 
the  systems  of  modern  Europe.  That  it  must  have 
passed,  I  contend  ;  how  it  passed  is  another  matter. 
The  knowledge  of  the  road  is  no  point  of  my 
argument: — nevertheless,  I  think  I  have  found  the 
clue. 

From  the  close  of  the  reign  of  the  Ptolemies,  to 
the  Portuguese  discoveries  in  India,  we  have  but  a 
single  record  of  eastern  commerce,  given  by  a  trader 
named  Sopater,  to  Cosmas,  and  inserted  in  his  Typo- 
graphia  Christiana.  Every  country,  from  China  to 
Ethiopia,  is  mentioned,  and  the  produce  or  merchandise 
which  each  sent  or  received,  enumerated.  The  centre 
of  this   traffic  was  Ceylon,  by  whose  merchants  and 

Q  2 


228  PHOENICIAN   SETTLEMENTS 

shipping  it  was  carried  on.  That  island  thus  pos- 
sessed commercial  prosperity  of  the  first  order,  while 
the  great  empires  were  sinking  into  that  decrepitude 
which  invited  the  northern  invasion,  and  facilitated 
the  outbursts  of  Saracenic  enthusiasm. 

This  commerce  was  not  carried  on  by  the  Cingalese, 
but  by  strangers,  settled  in  the  country,  who  had 
kings;  occupied  the  maritime  places  ;  were  of  a  differ- 
ent religion,  and  had  temples.  —  Who  could  those 
strangers  be  I 

Ceylon  was  never  invaded  by  a  foreign  state,  or 
overrun  by  a  foreign  race.  The  struggle  of  Buddhism 
and  Brahminism  had  not  extended  to  that  island  (at 
the  time  in  question,  Buddhism  had  been  expelled 
from  the  continent).  These  strangers  could  not 
have  been  from  India — they  were  not  Greeks  or 
Romans.  Had  they  been  Chinese,  they  would  have 
been  mentioned  as  such,  and  have  been,  like  the 
Cingalese,  Buddhists.  They  were  not  accidental 
rovers. 

Sopater  mentions  various  peculiarities — one,  a  hya- 
cinth in  one  of  the  temples,  which,  when  illumined  by 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  radiated  with  light.  Does  not  this 
recall  the  emerald  emitting  light  in  the  Temple  of 
Hercules  at  Tyre  %  *  Another  coincidence  may  be 
found  in  the  name  of  the  cocoa-nut,  as  given  by  Cosmas 
(Argillia),  with  that  of  the  cocoa-nut  tree  (Argel),  still 
used  by  the  Arabs. 

*  Herodotus,  1.  ii.  c.  44.  President  Goguet,  Origines  des 
Lois,  vol.  ii.  p.  114.     Drummond's  Origines,  vol.  iii.  p.  94. 


IN   CEYLON.  229 

"  There  was,"  he  says,  u  a  church  of  Christians." 
These  had  therefore  temples  and  churches ;  their 
presbyter  was  ordained  in  Persia,  whence  they  had 
their  deacons  and  ecclesiastical  chiefs.  In  the  moun- 
tains above  Mesopotamia,  to  this  day  there  are  Jews 
and  Christians  intermingled,  the  Christians  avowing 
themselves  converted  Jews,  the  Jews  declaring  them- 
selves apostate  Hebrews.  This  recalls  the  old  Jewish 
and  Phoenician  association  of  the  time  of  Solomon, 
and  their  common  expedition  to  Darohish. 

The  Phoenician  settlements  in  Ceylon  corresponded 
with  those  in  Spain.  They  had,  moreover,  been 
already  established  there  for  fifteen  hundred  years. 
On  all  the  western  coasts  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  dwelt 
cognate  tribes,  with  which  they  trafficked,  and  from 
whom  they  could  be  sustained  or  recruited.  They 
were  in  that  Indian  island  exposed  to  none  of  the 
conquests,  invasions,  or  convulsions  which  have  so 
often  changed  the  face  of  the  West.  If  the  story  of 
Sopater  had  never  been  told,  and  the  work  of  Cosmas 
had,  like  so  many  others,  perished,  we  might  have 
assumed  that  Phrygians  continued  to  dwell  and  traffic 
in  that  central  yet  secluded  station  of  the  Indian 
ocean.  Neither  Hindoos  nor  Persians  had  taken  to  the 
sea ;  China  had  not  engaged  in  conquest ;  no  Carthage 
had  interfered  with  them,  and  no  Rome  swallowed 
them  up. 

Isolated  not  from  Europe  only,  but  from  Asia  also 
and  Africa ;  surviving  the  fall  of  Tyre  and  Carthage, 
and,  without  passing  through  Christianity,  they  thus, 


230  AN   ARAB   POPULATION   IN 

down  to  Mussulman  times,  preserved  the  augury  of 
Paganism  with  the  enterprise  of  Phoenicia. 

Sopater  did  not  describe  them  as  Phoenicians, 
because,  when  he  wrote,  Tyre  was  deserted  ;  Carthage 
was  a  Yandal  town,  Cadiz  and  Carthagena  were  Gothic 
cities.  The  Phoenicians  had  disappeared,  and  the 
name  was  forgotten,  and  this  people,  who  had  never  so 
called  themselves  even  in  the  West,*  could  not  have 
told  him  in  the  East  that  such  was  the  name  which 
European  writers  had  given  them. 

If  these  conclusions  are  correct,  we  may  expect 
to  find  remnants  of  them  still.  In  India  proper, 
the  Mussulman  dominion,  the  invasion  of  Tatar  and 
Patan,  and  the  settlement  of  Arab  tribes  would  have 
effaced  the  trace  of  such  a  colony  :  but  Ceylon  having 
remained  free  from  such  disturbance,  we  may  not  un- 
reasonably look  for  this  further  confirmation—and  we 
find  it.  There  does  exist  such  an  Arab  population  f 
of  70,000  souls,  where  no  Arabs  ever  entered  as  in- 
vaders or  mercenaries.  The  Arabs  of  the  Continent 
are  military  bodies — these  are  given  to  commerce ; 
their  own  traditions  carry  them  back  nearly  to  the 

*  The  word  P'hen  occurs,  though  I  believe  only  once,  in  our 
Egyptian  monuments  as  the  name  of  a  people  :  who  the  people 
were  is  uncertain. 

t  These  statements  rest  on  the  authority  of  Sir  Alexander 
Johnson. 

An  account  of  these  people  is  given  in  Pridhane's  Ceylon, 
p.  470-480.  The  Cingalese  call  them  Marakkalaya,  which 
means  boatmen  ;  they  are  Sheas,  while  the  Mussulmans  of  the 
continent  are  Souni. 


CEYLON   TO  THIS   DAY.  231 

period  of  Sopater.  They  report  their  forefathers  to 
have  come  by  sea,  flying  from  the  persecutions  of 
Andalmaleh. 

No  tribes  were  driven  forth  by  these  persecutions  : 
compromised  individuals  only  escaped.  *  The  times 
and  events  prior  to  their  conversion  are  held  by  the 
Mussulmans  as  those  of  ignominy  ;  and,  consequently, 
this  population,  having  been  by  those  refugees  con- 
verted, dated  from  that  period  and  forgot  all  that 
preceded  it :  they  were  grafted  and  took  no  account 
of  the  original  stock.  The  same  thing  precisely  has 
happened  in  Morocco. 

On  their  conversion  the  secret,  which  neither 
Alexander  could  extort  from  Tyre,  nor  Rome  from 
Carthage,  would  be  surrendered,  like  the  architecture 
of  Mauritania,  to  Islam;  and  thus  it  was  that  Vasco 
di  Gama,  when  he  reached  the  Indian  ocean,  found  the 
compass  in  common  use.  It  provokes  no  remark  :  it 
was  not  then  the  Chinese  compass,  but  the  same  as 
that  which,  in  the  Mediterranean,  had  been  derived 
from  the  Saracens.f 

The  only  objection  which  I  have  not  disposed  of,  is 
that  of  Voltaire, — that  the  Saracens,  if  they  had  had 
the  compass,  would  not  have  left  to  us  the  discovery  of 

*  Towards  the  end  of  his  reign  an  insurrection  took  place,  of 
which  the  field  lay  principally  at  Bussorah ;  but  in  this  case  we 
know  that  the  defeated  insurgents  retreated  northward  to  seek 
the  protection  of  the  Turks. — See  Ockley,  vol.  ii.  p.  372. 

t  At  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  the  western  Arabs 
were  not  in  possession  of  the  compass,  for  the  astronomer  Ebu 
Youni  constructed  a  table  by  which  to  find  the  Kibleh.  . 


232       CLASSICAL  PROOFS  THAT  THE 

America.  I  will  here  remark,  that  it  does  not  apply, 
because  they  did  not  navigate  the  Atlantic.  It  is  good 
against  the  Phoenicians.  But  who  can  assert  that  they 
did  not  discover  America  % — the  tradition  of  the  At- 
lantic Island  cannot  be  explained  away  : — knowing 
the  dimensions  of  the  earth  they  would  not,  like 
Columbus,  mistake  America  for  India.*  Beyond 
the  Atlantic  are  to  be  found  traces  of  their  worship, 
of  their  manufacture,!  of  their  symbols, J  and  even 
of  the  instrument  by  which  the  way  was  found. 
The  temples  are  placed  according  to  the  cardinal 
points. 

Having  now  set  aside  every  objection  that  has  been 
raised,  I  proceed  to  the  indications  or  proofs  contained 
in  classical  writing.  Homer  speaks  of  vessels  finding 
their  way  without  pilots,  gliding  through  the  waters 
as  if  endowed  with  natural  organs.  §  The  passage,  it 
is  true,   has  been  accepted  as  a  poetic   image  ;  ||    in 

*  Columbus,  on  reaching  dry  land  westward,  wrote,  "  The 
world  is  not  so  large  as  is  supposed" 

f  Glass,  for  instance,  not  as  a  native  product,  but  as  an  exotic. 

X  Such  as  "  the  Seal  of  Solomon." 

§  "  Homer,  in  the  Odyssey,  says  that  the  Greeks  used  the 
needle  in  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Troy  :  thus  it  is  certain  that 
the  polarity  of  the  magnet  and  the  mariner's  compass  were  dis- 
coveries which  date  back  3000  years." — Buffon,  t.xii.  p.  386. 
This  passage  is  often  quoted  to  throw  ridicule  on  the  supposition. 
The  only  mistake  of  Buffon  was  in  reading  as  general  the  de- 
scription which  in  Homer  was  particular  and  restricted. 

Ov  yap  &air)K.e(Tcri  KvftepvrjTrjpes  tacriv, 

Ovbe  ti  7reSaXi'  cVrt,  rd  t  aXkai  vrjes  e poverty, 

'AAA*  avrai  "aaai  vorjp,ara  kcu  (ppevas  avdpoov. 

Od.  &.  557. 


PHOENICIANS   INVENTED   THE   COMPASS.      233 

Virgil's  hands  it  is  no  more.  He  speaks  of  "  keels  feel- 
ing their  way."  Homer  was  describing  particular 
ships,  and  those  Phoenician — the  name  is  indeed  Phae- 
acean  :  a  Hebrew  lexicon  will  show  that  these  two 
names  apply  to  one  people.  The  Phaeacians  were 
remarkable  for  industry,  wealth,  and  refinement ;  they 
were  distinguished  by  their  "  baths,  beds,  and  changes 
of  raiment."  They  were  ivlocifjuovug  kcl)  tcodtovg,  "  happy 
and  equal  to  the  gods,"  neither  molesting  nor  being 
molested.4'5"  The  daughter  of  their  prince,  Nausicaa, 
has  been  chosen  as  the  type  of  industry  and  purity  ; 
they  were,  therefore,  preeminently  noble  and  surpris- 
ingly tranquil;  such  is  the  interpretation  in  He- 
brew of  the  names  by  which  they  and  their  island 
were  known — Phailcf  and  Carcar;\  Phaeacia,  §  and 
Corcyra.  As  if  to  prevent  any  doubt,  Homer  gives 
to  the  island   another  name,  or  epithet,  2%s/>/?7,  the 

Ov  yap  &aiT)Kc<r<ri  /xeXet  /3ioy,  ovde  (paperprjv. 
'AXX'  torot  Kai  eper/xa  vecov,  <ai  vtjcs  ittrai, 
Hktii/  ayfv6p.€voi}  noXiT^v  ncpocoo'i  BaKaacrqv. 

Od.  y.  370. 

%  "  Carcar,  inde  Ip'lp,  carcar,  quiescere  et  in  tuto  esse  significat. 
An  inde  dicta  est  Corcyra,  in  qua  Phseaces  per  multa  ssecula 
tuto  et  pacate  vixisse  constat." — Chonaan  1.  i.  cxxiii.  Whence 
also  Career.  The  name  is  preserved  in  Barbary  and  Spain  in 
Career. 

§  The  name  of  the  Slaavs  and  that  of  the  Shelloks  (Ama- 
zirgeh)  are  derived  in  the  same  manner,  also  the  Etruscan  states 
Ardea  (noble) ;  for  from  it  was  taken  by  Rome  the  institu- 
tion which  made  Rome  noble  and  great —  the  fecial  vows  and 
college,  i.  e.  heraldry,  or  the  laws  of  war. — See  Servius  on  JEn. 
vii.  v.  1 1 1 


234  THE   GOLDEN   ARROW   OF  ABARIS. 

Hebrew  for  "  Mart."  *  The  three  words,  Phaik,  Cor- 
hura,  and  Scheria,  are  meaningless  in  Greek,  but 
descriptive  in  the  Phaeacian ;  and  Homer's  lines, 
shadowing  forth  the  mariner's  compass,  f  apply  to 
their  vessels. 

By  his  golden  arrow,  Abaris  "  traversed  the  winds/' 
by  it  he  "  steered."  Pythagoras  forced  him  to  reveal 
his  secret  .J  There  was  then  a  secret  in  reference  to 
steering,  not  as  to  dexterity  in  conning  a  vessel,  but 
in  finding  the  point  to  which  her  course  lay. 

Hercules,§  the  symbol  of  Phoenician  enterprise, 
departs  on  his  expedition  for  opening  navigation  to 
the  westward,  with  a  cup.     This  cup  he  gets  from 

*  JOnD>  Shara.  Isaiah  (xxiii.  3)  applies  the  same  epithet  to 
Sidon,  Shar-goim,  "  mart  of  nations."  This  is  the  Sharu  of  the 
hieroglyphics. 

f  "  We  can  discern  why  their  good  fortune  ceased  after  this 
separation,  under  the  reign  of  Alcinous,  if  the  Phocians  (PhaB- 
acians)  renounced  navigation.  Was  it  not  that  the  instruments 
(mariner's  compass),  obtained  from  their  masters  were  lost,  and 
they  knew  not  how  to  construct  others  ?" — Salverte,  Occult  Sciences, 
f.  ii.  p.  251.  See  also  Cook's  "Inquiry  into  the  Patriarchal  and 
Druidical  Religion,"  p.  22. 

%  See  Jamblicus,  Vit.  Pythagor.  c.  xxviii. ;  Diod.  Sic.  1.  iii.  c. 
xi. ;  Herodot.  1.  iv.  c.  36  ;  Suidas  Verbo  Abaris. 

§  One  of  the  recent  flippant  writers  on  ancient  things  says, 
"  The  most  famous  bowl  of  antiquity  was  that  of  Hercules,  which 
served  its  illustrious  owner  in  the  double  capacity  of  drinking- 
cup  and  canoe ;  for,  when  he  had  quenched  his  thirst,  he  could 
set  it  afloat,  and,  leaping  into  it,  steer  to  any  part  of  the  world 
he  pleased.  Some,  indeed,  speak  of  it  as  a  borrowed  article, 
belonging  originally  to  the  sun,  and  in  which  the  god  used 
nightly  to  traverse  the  ocean  from  west  to  east." — St.  John's 
Ancient  Greece,  vol.  ii.  p.  114. 


THE   CUP   AND   STONE   OF   HERCULES.        235 

Apollo,  and  it  was  destined  of  course  to  aid  him  on 
his  way ;  here  is  the  cup  of  water  in  which  the 
needle  was  floated.* 

The  name  of  Hercules  is  given  to  a  stone — that 
stone  so  called  is  the  magnet.  Why  should  the  mag- 
net have  been  called  the  stone  of  Hercules'?  The 
explanations  offered  are,  —  that  it  is  emblematic  of 
strength  in  its  attraction  ;  or  that  it  was  found  at 
Heraclea.f  Here  is  the  magnet  to  polarise,  floated 
in  the  cup. 

Fuller  alone  has  attributed  to  the  Phoenicians  this 
invention,;};  and  he  does  so  solely  on  account  of  the 
Heraclean  stone.  "  It  could  have  had  no  other  mean- 
ing," says  he,  "  than  the  compass ;  possessing  it,  the 
Tyrians  must  have  carefully  concealed  it,  consequently 
there  is  nothing  surprising  in  its  having  been  lost ; 

"  Sol's  golden  bowl  he  entered  to  pass  o'er 
The  hoary  ocean's  stream,  and  reached  the  shore, 
The  sacred  depths  of  venerable  night." — Stesichoeus. 


*  The  statue  of  Hercules  at  Tarentum,  enumerated  by  Pliny 
in  his  list  of  Colossi,  had  a  key  in  one  hand  and  a  cup  in  the 
other.     On  the  coins  of  Crotona  Hercules  bore  a  cup  in  his  hand. 

t  'HpaxXfia  8c  rj  8ia  rbv  icr^vpov  <ai  Kparepbv  777s  oAkj}^  fj  pdXKov  dion 
7T€p\  'HpafcXemz/  top  Trpu>Tov  l<pa.vr).—~ Hesychius. 

X  Incidental  suppositions  are  scattered  through  various  works. 
See  Lavinius  Lemnius,  De  Occult.  Nat.  Mir..  1.  i.  c.  iii. ;  Buffon ; 
J.  de  Pineda,  De  Rege  Salomone;  Fortuesto,  William  Cook, 
Stukely,  <fcc.  I  do  not  include  Sir  William  Bethune ;  the  grounds 
of  his  supposition  are  so  preposterous.  It  is  from  the  supposed 
resemblance  of  a  vessel  to  the  compass  actually  in  use  that  Sir 
W.  Bethune  starts.  See  the  practical  exposure  as  given  in 
Dennis's  Etruria,  vol.  ii.  p.  105. 


236       ARGUMENTS   OF   FULLER  AND   BOCHART. 

many  arts  have  been  lost — amongst  others,  the  purple 
dye  for  which  Tyre  was  celebrated."*  He  supposes  it 
to  have  been  first  communicated  by  Solomon  to  the 
Jews.  Bochart,f  in  confuting  him,  uses  the  argument 
which  I  have  already  disposed  of — the  impossibility 
of  the  Phoenician  steersman  concealing  what  he  was 
about,  from  the  crew  and  the  passengers,  often  Greeks 
or  Romans— the  impossibility,  that  once  discovered, 
it  should  be  lost.  Those  arts  alone  he  owns,  had 
perished  which  belonged  to  luxury,  not  those  which 
were  of  universal  use  ;  and  he  concludes,  that  this 
invention  is  to  be  considered  a  benefit  of  God  reserved 
for  the  old  age  of  the  human  race,  in  order  that  the 
Gospel  might  be  promulgated  throughout  the  world. 
He  adopts  as  the  explanation  of  the  name  Herculean, 
its  being  found  near  the  town  of  Heraclea,  noticing 
but  not  meeting  the  objection,  that  in  that  case  it 
would  have  been  called  Heraclean.  Lastly,  he  asks, 
why  should  the  name  be  referred  to  a  Phoenician  and 
not  tova  Greek  Hercules  %  These  are  the  objections  of 
the  most  learned  of  modern  antiquaries,  and  urged 
by  the  most  devoted  partisan  of  the  Phoenicians. 

So  far  Greek  mythology  and  poetry;  and  taken 
in  conjunction  with  the  explanation  I  have  given  of 
the  cup,  the  stone,  I  think  they  are  conclusive  :  for 
there  can  be  but  one  explanation  for  vessels  endowed 
with  instinct  to  find  their  way,  for  an  arrow  to  steer 

*  Miscell.  Sacra,  1.  iv.  c.  19. 

t  Canaan,  1.  i.  c.  98.  See  also  H.Kepping,  Antiq.  Rom.  1.  iii.  c.  6. 


THE  BATYLIA. 


237 


by,  for  a  stone  called  by  the  name  of  the  Columbus 
of  antiquity,  from  the  association  of  a  stone  and  a 
cup  with  navigation,  and  of  the  sun  with  Hercules. 
But  Hellas  does  not  bound  our  sight :  there  are  beyond 
higher  springs  and  more  sacred  fountains,  and  to  these 
I  pass  on.  The  Greek  tongue  has  preserved,  though  it 
may  have  disfigured,  the  oracular  accents  of  Palestine. 

In  the  abstract  of  the  Cosmogony  of  Sanchoniathon, 
translated  into  Greek  by  Philo  Byblius,  and  preserved 
by  Eusebius,  these  words  appear  ;  —  'Erao^s  ®eoc 
Ougavog,  ISctirvXicc,  Xtdovg  lf/j\pi%ovg  prr/jzywu^ivog. 
"Ouranos  contrived  Batylia,  stones  with  life."1 

This  has  been  taken  to  be  a  metaphorical  repre- 
sentation of  creative  power;  but  the  thing  made  or 
contained  is  mentioned,  a  thing  well  known  by  its 
name ;  and  being  so  named,  it  is  then  described 
as  being  stones  with  life.  Besides  the  words  of 
Homer,  describiDg  the  Phaeacian  ships,  I  know  of  no 
other  passage  in  writings  of  antiquity,  in  which  in- 
animate bodies  are  so  spoken  of.  The  \l0ovg  Ip-fyv- 
Xpvg  of  Sanchoniathon,  and  the  vofj/uiarcc  xcct  (pgkwg 
avl^av  of  Homer,  apply  to  the  same  thing,  the  one 
being  descriptive  of  the  instrument,  the  other  of 
its  effects.  These  Batylia  are  often  mentioned,  not  on 
board  ship,  but  in  temples ;  they  are  described  by 
travellers  down  as  late  as  the  fourth  century  of  our 
era.  They  were  many  in  number  in  the  same  tem- 
ple. They  were  not  in  all  temples ;  I  find  no  mention 
of  them  in  any  Greek  temple,  or  consequently  in 
Greece  or  Asia  Minor ;  the  stones  endowed  with  life, 


238  SUGGESTIONS   AS  TO  THE 

might  be  supposed  to  mean  statues,  but  these  were 
not  images  nor  things  that  could  be  classed  in  any 
known  category  of  objects  of  worship  or  ornament. 
The  Greek  writers  do  not  know  what  to  make  of 
them :  they  looked  upon  them  not  as  a  mystery,  but 
as  a  piece  of  necromancy :  a  thousand  wonderful 
things  were  narrated  of  them,  amongst  which  were  the 
upturning  of  walls,  and  the  capturing  of  cities ;  they 
were  said  to  move  in  the  air,  and  to  have  little  demons 
inside  *  We  are  not,  however,  destitute  of  description 
of  their  figure.  They  were  in  size  and  shape  like 
cricket  balls,  of  a  dark  indistinct  colour,  trogQvgorihfjs, 
or  black  ;  of  the  substance  nothing  is  said. 

The  name  Batylia  is  spoken  of  as  Greek,  and  is 
given  as  the  translation  of  another  term  used  by  the 
Phoenicians.  The  Greeks,  however,  could  find  no 
more  a  meaning  for  the  word  than  for  the  thing ; 
but  as  Greeks  always  have  recourse  to  a  fable  when 
they  are  in  want  of  an  etymology,  they  gave  us 
the  following.  When  Rhea  gave  a  stone  instead 
of  Jupiter  to  Saturn,  to  coyer  the  deceit  she  wrapped 
it  in  a  skin  :  the  skin  was  Ba/r??,  hence  Batylia,  but 
unluckily,  the  very  stone  swallowed  for  Jupiter, 
and  which,  at  his  son's  request,  Saturn  afterwards 
vomited,  was  itself  preserved  at  the  temple  of  Delphi. f 

*  EtiSoj/  tov  BairvXov  8ia  tov   depos  Kivovpevov. — Damascius.     Eivcu 
riva  AaifMova  tov  kivovvtcl  ovtov. — Isidorus. 

t  Tov  fxev  Zevs  aTrjpige  Kara  xOovos  evpvo8€irjs 

ILv$o\  ev  TjyaOer),  yvakots  vrro  Hapvrjaoio, 
Srjp?  €p,ev  e^OTTio-oij  Oavpa  6vt)to7o~i  /UpoToiai. 

Hesiod.  Theo.  498. 


MEANING  OF   "BATYLIA."  239 

This  is  all  that  Greek  ingenuity  can  effect  in  the 
way  of  explanation.  In  this  shape  this  "indigesta 
moles"  descends  to  the  learned  hands*  of  modern 
critics. 

What  do  the  critics  do  with  it  %  They  look  at  it, 
handle  it,  turn  it  over  and  over,  taste  it,  chew  it,  kick 
it,  and  do  everything  with  it  but  explain  it ;  exert- 
ing all  the  while  the  extremest  ingenuity  to  avoid 
the  simple  explanation  before  their  eyes.  Some  make 
them  to  be  pillars  set  up  like  those  of  Hercules,* 
some  "votive  offerings,"  some  "rocking  stones,"!  some 
"  amulets."  Of  course  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  ground 
for  any  one  of  these  interpretations,  and  they  are 
each  directly  at  variance  with  the  description  which 
the  ancients  have  left  us  of  the  thing ;  their  ex- 
planation, in  every  case,  consisting  in  making  out  the 
thing  to  be  different  from  that  which  it  is  described. 
Some  indeed  go  further,  and  scoff  and  jeer ;  set  San- 

*  Drummond,  after  laughing  at  Bochart,  says,  "  But,  after  all 
that  has  been  said,  the  etymology  of  the  word  appears  to  me  to 
be  very  plain  f  and  then  proceeds  to  show  that  "  Baitulos " 
was  no  more  than  Jacob's  "  Beth-el,"  forgetting  that  the  word 
was  Greek,  not  Hebrew,  or,  if  not  forgetting,  disposing  of 
the  objection  as  follows  :  "  Those  who  would  rather  derive 
it  from  the  Greek  may  consult,"  &c. — Origines,  vol.  iii.  p. 
215—435. 

+  The  ancients  have  described  rocking- stones,  but  never  called 
them  "  Baitula." — See  Apoll.  Rhod.  Argon.  1.  i. ;  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist, 
vol.  ii.  c.  28.  For  some  amusing  learning  on  the  subject,  see 
Moore's  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.  p.  39-59.  See  also  Dissert, 
sur  les  Bwtyles,  M6ra.  de  l'AcadSmie,  vol.  vi. ;  Rem.  de  l'Abbe 
Bautier,  vol.  vii.  p.  241. 


240   CEREMONIES  ON   CONSULTING  THE  MAGNET. 

coniathon  right,  and  undertake  the  revision  of  all 
the  writers,  and  of  all  the  copyists  who  have  ever 
described  Batylia,  or  transcribed  the  description. 

We  learn  by  a  line  in  Priscian,  the  name  or  a  name, 
by  which  the  Phoenicians  knew  them.  He  says,  "  they 
call  Abadir,  the  stone  given  by  Rhea  to  Saturn ;""  else- 
where the  word  Abadir  occurs,  as  said  to  be  applied 
by  the  Phoenicians  to  "unknown  gods,"  Abadir  is 
not  Hebrew,  and  an  emendation  has  been  suggested 
by  Bochard,  aban-dir,  which  means  round  stone. 

These  round  stones  *  supply  the  last  link  in  the 
chain.  The  magnet  must  have  been  consulted  with 
ceremonies,  and  considered  as  an  oracle  or  a  god. 
When  the  vessels  returned  into  harbour  it  would  be 
carried  to  the  Temple,  and  exposed,  like  the  other 
mysteries,  to  the  gaze  of  the  vulgar  and  uninitiated. 
Here,  laid  up  in  the  Temples,  are  the  compasses  of  the 
Phoenician  argosies,  preserved  as  sacred  to  the  latter 
days  of  Paganism,  although  the  secret  would  have  died 
out  centuries  before. 

The  Batylia  would  be  placed  only  on  board  the 
vessels  destined  for  Lybia,  Southern  Africa,  Spain, 
or  Britain  ;  and  they  would  not  be  shipped  like  a 
bale  of  goods,  or  invoiced  like  a  case  of  instruments. 

*  During  the  Catalonian  insurrection  of  1834,  the  name 
Patulea  was  given  to  the  insurgents.  Whence  it  has  been  de- 
rived, I  have  been  unable  to  discover.  In  Portugal  it  has 
recently  been  adopted.  The  insurgents  were  called  Patulea,  the 
chiefs  Conocedos,  or  *  the  known."  This  return  to  the  "  Un- 
known gods,"  of  the  Greeks,  if  a  mere  coincidence,  is  a  curious 
one. 


INITIATION    OF   THE    BATYLIA.  241 

But  whatever  ceremonies  were  employed  in  Tyre,  the 
Straits  themselves  must  have  been  the  scene  of  the  ini- 
tiation connected  with  their  use.  We  may  assume,  with 
perfect  confidence,  that,  in  passing  the  Straits,  every 
means  were  taken  that  craft  could  devise  or  superstition 
enforce,  to  preserve  secret  all  the  means  through 
which  this  exterior  commerce  was  carried  on  ;  whether 
the  knowledge  of  the  currents,  the  winds,  the  tides, 
the  seas,  the  shores,  the  people,  or  the  harbours.  The 
traffic  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Carthaginians  was  a 
mystery,  and  that  mystery  lay  beyond  the  Straits. 
The  Phoenician  vessel  running  herself  on  the  rocks 
that  the  Roman  might  not  find  the  passage,  tells  the 
whole  story  ;  and  this  secrecy  was  enforced  by  the  most 
sanguinary  code  :  death  was  the  penalty  of  indiscre- 
tion. We  know  from  the  Greek  writers  that  parti- 
cular ceremonies  were  performed  in  passing  the  Straits. 
They  approached  the  Groves  of  Hercules  with  votive 
offerings,  and  departed  in  haste,  oppressed  by  the 
sanctity  of  the  spot.  Hercules  is  the  name  associated 
with  these  mysteries,  which  seem  to  possess  all  the 
character  of  initiation,  although  there  is  no  Dimeter, 
Dionysius,  or  Astarte. 

Sailors  are  a  primitive  people :  like  children,  they 
retain  usages  and  traditions  long  forgotten  by  the  other 
classes  of  a  community.  This  spot  is  above  all 
others  on  earth,  fitted  to  imbibe  such  a  superstition, 
and  to  retain  such  a  ceremony.  The  races  have  re- 
mained undisturbed  :  I  therefore  hoped  to  find,  even 
still,  some  remnants,    and   diligently  made  inquiries 

vol.  i.  K 


242       THE   ANCIENT   PHOENICIAN   INITIATION. 

amongst  Spaniards  and  Moors,  but  was  not  rewarded 
by  any  discovery.45" 

But  in  one  of  the  accounts  of  the  Missionary  expedi- 
tions to  Morocco,  for  the  redemption  of  slaves,  I  fell 
upon  a  description  of  the  ceremony,  as  practised  here 
down  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
vessel  was  proceeding  from  Ceuta  to  Cadiz  :  the  cere- 
mony was  not  performed  on  crossing  between  Europe 
and  Africa,  but  on  passing  through  the  Straits  and 
passing  outwards.-f  It  is  a  pantomime,  of  which  that 
performed  by  our  sailors  in  crossing  the  line  might  be 
given  as  a  description  :  it  is  in  fact  the  copy,  the  old 

*  In  the  course  of  them  I  came  upon  a  singular  instance  of 
popular  memory.  I  was  sitting  with  a  Braber  baker  of  Tangier, 
on  the  promontory  looking  towards  Spain,  and  asking  him  the 
names  of  places,  to  see  if  I  could  identify  in  their  recollections 
some  of  the  old  Iberian  names  :  he  directed  my  attention  to  a 
white  streak  on  the  coast  opposite,  and  then  said,  "There  is 
Belon."  The  place  has  disappeared  for  1500  years,  and  no  Spa- 
niard knows  the  name. 

t  Le  lendemain  matin  on  fit  la  ceremonie  ordinaire  quand  xm 

passe  le  Detroit.     Un  homme   de  l'equipage  tenant  un  livre  a  la 

main,   la  commeniga  par   faire  un  serment  sur    ce    livre     pour 

tous  ceux  du  vaisseau.     Par  ce  serment  il  voulut  distinguer  ceux 

qui  avoient  dej'd  passe  le  Detroit  aVavec  ceux  qui  ne  Vavoient  pas 

encore  passe,  et  en  meme  temps  il  faisoit  promettre  a  tous  ceux 

de  l'equipage  de  faire  la  m£me  ce>6monie  toutes  les  fois  qu'ils  le 

passeroient.     Apr&s  il  parut  sur  le  pont  une  compagnie  de  jeunes 

matelots  avec  un  tambour,  chacun  ayant  une  moustache.     Cette 

compagnie  avoit  pour  armes  tous  les  instrumens  de  la  cuisine. 

Ceux  qui  n'avoient  pas  encore  passe  le  Detroit,  payerent  pour  n'etre 

point  baptise  une  seconde  fois.     Personne  n'est  exempt — capitaine, 

officiers,  matelots,   passageurs,    et   la   vaisseau  meme  doivent   si 

c'est  la  premiere  fois  qu'on  a  passe"  le  Detroit ;  un  matelot,  n' ayant 


THE  MODERN  "CROSSING  THE  LINE.'1    243 

Phoenician  initiation,  preserved  down  to  the  time  when 
navigation  took  her  new  spring ;  and  at  the  very 
spot,  and  amongst  the  mariners  who  first  reached  and 
passed  the  Equator,  was  by  them  transferred  to  the 
ideal  line  of  the  Equator,  mingling  in  strange  and  in- 
explicable  incongruity  ancient  mythology  with  modern 
science  ;  and  then  changing  Hercules,  who  had  no- 
thing to  do  with  the  sea,  for  Neptune.  The  duck- 
ings with  water  mean  the  ablution  ;  the  shaving  and 
fining  recall  the  oaths  and  penalty  ;  the  white  wig, 
the  veil  of  the  priests  of  Hercules  ;  and  the  cooking 
utensils  are  paraded  in  memory  of  the  victim*  and 
altar. 

jamais,  voulut  rien  donner,  fut  inis  le  cul  dans  un  baquet,  et  on 
l'injetta  sur  le  corps  une  quinzaine  de  seaux  d'eau  de  mer. 
Assurement  il  a  du  se  souvenir  de  ce  second  bapteme  (permettez 
moi  cette  comparaison)  plus  que  du  premier.  Pour  mieux 
prouver  qu'on  a  deja  passe  le  Detroit,  il  faut  dire,  le  mois  et 
l'annee  qu'on  l'a  passe,  le  nom  du  capitaine  et  du  vaisseau  sur 
lequel  on  etoit." — Trois  Voyages  au  Jfaroc,  p.  179. 

This  is  not  the  only  nautical  ceremony  with  a  classical 
origin.  A  former  traveller  in  Greece  thus  describes  a  launch, 
— "  A  crown  of  flowers  is  placed  on  the  bow,  then  Kapafioicripi, 
or  master,  raises  a  jar  of  wine  to  his  lips,  and  then  pours 
it  on  the  deck.  Nothing  can  be  more  beautifully  classical. 
It  were  to  be  wished  that  we  could  trace  the  ceremony  which 
takes  place  amongst  us  to  this  source,  and  not  consider  it 
an  imitation  of  one  of  the  most  sacred  rites  of  our  religion." — 
Douglas,  p.  C5. 

*  No  ancient  or  modern  European  language  affords  an  etymo- 
logy for  the  nautical  designation  of  a  fire-place — Cabouse.  It  is 
Arabic,  and  means  "  a  thing  consecrated  to  a  mosque."  In  Pagan 
times  it  would  be  the  temple  or  the  sacrifice.  The  Phoenician 
vessels   had    their    altars    and   their   gods,    Patacoi,       tffttftfoft] 

r  2 


244        NECHO  AND  DON  HENRY. 

I  now  come  to  the  last  point  which  I  shall 
notice  :  it  is  the  one  which  first  suggested  to  me  the 
thought ;  and  in  it  are  involved  debated  questions 
of  history  and  undescribed  and  unnoted  geographical 
features. 

When  Don  Henry  established  himself  upon  the 
western  limit  of  the  world,  to  plan  adventures  over 
the  then  unexplored  waste  of  waters,  it  was  the 
shade  of  Necho  that  beckoned  him  down  the  African 
coast ;  led  him  on  from  cape  to  cape,  and  invited 
him  from  cluster  to  cluster  of  its  islands.  At 
length  Africa  was  turned  ;  there  was  the  Indian  as 
well  as  the  Pacific  ocean  opened,  and  that  wonderful 
discovery  and  dominion — the  colonization  and  com- 
merce of  the  Portuguese  established,  which  dotted  with 
their  settlements  the  line  of  coast  from  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  to  China. 

In  Herodotus  he  found  the  voyage  round  the  cape 
ordered  by  the  Egyptian  king,  and  the  return  likewise 
ordered  by  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  :  these  orders  were 
obeyed.  The  father  of  history,  it  is  told,  was  treated 
as  a  dreamer  by  his  Roman  and  Alexandrian  suc- 
cessors ;  but  the  recent  extension  of  knowledge  has 
in  every  point  confirmed  his  statements,  and  shown 
that,    five  centuries  B.C.,  more  was  known  of  geogra- 

terms,  of  which  the  etymology  is  unknown,  are  generally  trace- 
able to  the  Phoenicians — for  instance,  Davit  in  Arabic,  a  bent 
piece  of  wood.  Cabouse  and  Davit  have  disappeared  from 
the  Mediterranean,  and  must  have  been  left  amongst  us  by  the 
Phoenicians. 


THE   CIRCUMNAVIGATION    OF   AFRICA.  245 

phy  than  in  the  golden  age  of  Augustus.*  Whether 
it  be  in  fixing  the  points  of  the  Lybian  deserts,  or 
iu  tracing  the  outlines  of  the  Caspian  Sea,f  it  is 
the  old  Greek  who  appears  the  accurate  modern ;  and 
the  geographer  of  the  time  of  the  Caesars,  who  is 
the  reporter  of  fables  and  of  tales.J  Thus  do  we 
find  in  antiquity,  a  counterpart  to  our  modern 
disputes,  and  Pliny,  Mela,  and  Strabo,  are  the  proto- 
types of  Rennell,  Gosselin,  and  Mannert. 

The  events  which  throw  light  on  the  circumnaviga- 
tion of  Africa  are.  1.  The  expedition  of  Necho,  as 
hearsay.  2.  The  Periplus  of  Hanno,  in  a  fragment 
copied,  by  an  unknown  hand,  from  a  Carthaginian 
monument.  The  voyage  does  not  so  appear  to 
have  extended  beyond  the  western  coast ;  but  Pliny, 
who  had  other  data,  carries  it  round  to  the  Erythraean 
sea.  3.  The  traffic  of  the  Carthaginians  on  the  Gold 
coast. 

The  expedition  of  Necho  §  is  flatly  contradicted  by 

*  See  the  chapter  on  the  land  trade  of  the  Carthaginians  in 
Heeren's  Researches,  the  most  valuable  portion  of  his  comprehen- 
sive work. 

t  Strabo  makes  the  Caspian  Sea,  a  gulf  of  the  Northern 
Ocean. 

X  <£  Geographical  knowledge  had  existed  and  ceased  before  the 
classic  age  of  Greece  arose." —  Geovee's  Voice  from  Stonehenge. 

§  "  That  Africa  is  clearly  surrounded  by  the  sea,  except  where 
it  borders  on  Asia,  Necho,  King  of  the  Egyptians,  was  the  first, 
we  know,  to  demonstrate.  That  prince,  having  finished  his  exca- 
vations for  the  canal  leading  out  of  the  Nile  into  the  Arabian  gulf \ 
despatched  certain  natives  of  Phoenicia  on  ship-board,  with 
orders  to  sail  back  through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  into  the  north, 


246  THE   TWO   THEORIES  OF   GOSSELIN. 

Strabo,  after  an  examination  of  all  the  evidence.  The 
same  opinion  was  pronounced  by  the  school  of  Alex- 
andria, Pomponius  Mela,  and  Pliny,  who  contending 
for  at  least  the  possibility  of  the  voyage,  do  not  so 
much  as  mention  the  narrative  of  Herodotus,  con- 
sidering it  doubtless  a  fable,  because  of  the  asserted 
change  of  shadow,  which  to  us  is  evidence  of  its 
reality. 

Gosselin,  after  writing  a  learned  work  to  prove 
that  the  statement  of  Herodotus  was  correct,  wrote  a 
still  more  learned  work  to  prove  the  reverse.  The 
new  idea  which  had  turned  the  current  of  his  conclu- 
sions was,  the  impossibility  of  such  a  voyage  without 
the  compass.  Major  Rennell  presses  him  with  objec- 
tions, asserting  the  consistency  of  the  narrative,  and 
authority  of  the  evidence,  and,  arguing  against  the 
objection,  says,  that  "the  barks  of  the  ancients  were 
adapted  for  coasting  navigation,  could  keep  close  in 
shore,  and  might  be  hauled  up  on  the  beach.  This 
voyage,  immense  as  it  was,  did  not  therefore  necessitate 
any  venturesome  entrance   into  the   open   sea — they 

(Mediterranean)  Sea,  and  so  to  return  into  Egypt.  The  Phoe- 
nicians consequently,  having  departed  out  of  the  Erythraean  sea, 
proceeded  on  their  voyage  in  the  Southern  Sea :  when  it  was 
autumn,  they  would  push  ashore,  and,  sowing  the  land,  whatever 
might  be  the  part  of  Lybia  they  had  reached,  await  there  till 
the  harvest  time  :  having  reaped  their  corn  they  continued  their 
voyage.  Thus,  after  the  lapse  of  two  years,  and  passing  through 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules  in  the  third,  they  came  back  into  Egypt, 
and  stated  what  is  not  credible  to  me,  but  may  be  so,  perhaps,  to 
others, — namely,  that  in  their  circumnavigation  of  Libya,  they 
had  the  sun  upon  the  right  hand."" — Heeren.  ii.  c.  44. 


THE   OPINIONS   OF   HEEREN.  247 

needed  not  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  land  even  for 
a  day. 

Heeren  seats  himself  on  the  bench,  and  sums  up, 
and  without  combating  M.  Gosselin,  decides  against 
him.  "This  gentleman's  arguments/'  he  says, 
"amount  to  nothing;  for  are  we  in  a  situation  to 
judge  of  the  perfection  of  Phoenician  navigation  ? 
Nations  accustomed  to  coasting  navigation  are  gene- 
rally much  better  acquainted  with  its  difficulties  than 
great  sea-faring  nations.  It  has  been  recently  ascer- 
tained that  the  difficulties  in  reaching  the  Cape  from 
the  Red  Sea,  are  not  so  great  as  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean. All  here  combined  to  facilitate  the  progress  of 
the  expedition."  Yet  these  favourable  circumstances, 
however,  served  only  until  the  coast  of  Guinea  was 
reached,  and  thence  "  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  was 
the  most  difficult  part  of  the  voyage" 

Why  does  Heeren  slur  over  the  difficulty  of  which 
he  is  evidently  aware  ?  Was  it  that,  placed  in  a 
dilemma  between  the  desire  of  deciding  a  contro- 
versy, and  the  fear  of  risking  his  character  for 
"  critical  discrimination,"  he  had  recourse  to  a  little 
mystification  %  * 

*  The  following  passage  from  Heeren  well  illustrates,  in  the 
incoherence  of  each  sentence,  the  consciousness  that  the  people  he 
described  was  too  large  for  his  grasp.  '*  But,  leaving  these  dis- 
tinct voyages  of  discovery  out  of  the  question,  the  extent  to  which 
this  enterprising  people  carried  their  regular  navigation  is  truly 
wonderful.  Though  voyages  across  the  open  seas  have  been  the 
consequence  of  our  acquaintance  with  the  new  world  beyond  tho 
Atlantic  ;  yet  their  hardy  and  adventurous  spirit  led  them  to  find 


248  DIFFICULTIES   ATTENDING   THE 

For  those  who  have  the  compass,  it  is  true  that  the 
difficulties  are  less  in  coming  from  the  Red  Sea,  but  ex- 
actly the  reverse  for  those  who  have  it  not  : — a  vessel 
sailing  from  the  Guinea  coast  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar, 
must  keep  far  out  to  sea.* 

Gosselin  was  perfectly  right  in  his  second  work, 
when  he  said  that  the  circumnavigation  of  Africa 
was  impossible  without  the  compass,  as  he  was  right 
in  his  first,  when  he  asserted  that  it  had  been  cir- 
cumnavigated. There  is  no  contradiction  between 
the  two  propositions. 

Such  difficulties  surround,  and  such  dangers  attend 
that  navigation,  that  I  do  not  understand  how  we 
to-day  could  navigate  that  coast,  were  the  magnetic 
needle  to  lose  its  virtue.  Impelled  by  the  eddy  from 
America,  the  Atlantic  draws  down  the  African  shore. 
There  is  below  Mogadore  a  night  breeze  from  the 
sea  ;  the  land  is  low,  and  stretches  in  a  line  of  sand- 
banks or  breakers.  There  are  no  inlets  and  no 
shelter,  and  certain   destruction   awaits   the   mariner 

a  substitute  for  it,  in  stretching  from  coast  to  coast  into  the 
most  distant  regions.  The  long  series  of  centuries  during  which 
they  were  exclusively  the  masters  of  the  seas,  gave  them  sufficient 
time  to  make  this  gradual  progress,  which  perhaps  was  the  more 
regular  and  certain  in  proportion  to  the  time  it  occupied.  The 
Phoenicians  carried  the  nautical  art  to  the  highest  point  of  per- 
fection at  that  time  required,  or  of  which  it  was  then  capable." 

*  A  vessel  proceeding  from  the  Bight  of  Benin  to  any  point 
of  the  coast,  northwards,  has  first  to  make  and  pass  the  equator, 
steering  south  and  west  till  she  has  done  so.  She  then  hauls  up 
to  the  west  and  north,  and  runs  eastward  only  after  she  is  to  the 
northward  of  her  port. 


NAVIGATION   OF   THE   AFRICAN    COAST.        249 

on  a  lee  shore,  on  which  a  current  sits.  Their  vessels 
did  not  lie  closer  to  the  wind  than  seven  points,  and 
could  never  get  off.  Is  this  a  navigation  to  be  per- 
formed by  creeping  along  the  shores  and  dragging 
up  vessels  on  the  beach  at  night  \  and  for  five  hundred 
miles  of  the  northern  coast,  there  is  a  continuous 
range  of  breakers  without  shelter  of  any  kind,  and 
no  port  which  can  be  entered  except  over  a  bar,  and 
in  fine  weather,  so  that  there  is  a  wholly  inaccessible 
coast,  equal  in  length  to  the  Mediterranean  sea. 

Major  Rennell,  in  his  work  on  the  "  currents  of  the 
Atlantic/'  estimates  the  daily  easting  of  a  vessel  at 
seventeen  miles,  so  that  between  the  Straits  of  Gib- 
raltar, and  the  Madeira  islands,  a  vessel  is  carried  out 
of  her  dead  reckoning  to  the  eastward,  according  to 
the  length  of  the  voyage,  from  eighty  to  two  hundred 
miles.  It  is  thus,  that  so  frequently  vessels  with 
chronometer,  quadrant,  charts,  and  log,  besides  com- 
pass, have  been  wrecked  on  the  African  coast,  when 
believing  themselves  to  be  in  the  longitude  of  Tene- 
riffe,  or  even  further  to  the  westward.  One  of  the 
sufferers,  Ryley,  master  of  an  American  vessel,  has 
given  us  a  lively  description  of  such  a  scene,  and  of 
the  shore  on  which  it  occurred  ;*  and  has  assigned  as 
the  cause  of  his  misfortune,  the  indraught  both  of  cur- 

*  In  the  north  the  coast  is  sufficiently  dangerous.  In  my 
cruise  along  it  in  1845,  I  had  in  company,  or  saw  only  four 
vessels :  two  of  these  went  ashore,  the  other  two  were  wrecked, 
the  one  an  English  brigantine,  the  other  a  French  steamer  of 
war.     Eighty  souls  perished. 


250  DANGERS   OF   THE   AFRICAN   COAST 

rent  and  wind,  and  the  impossibility  of  getting  off  the 
coast  when  once  thus  got  upon  it.  Even  after  his 
vessel  had  struck  he  could  see  no  land. 

And  what  is  the  fate  of  the  survivors  %  Death  by 
thirst  or  slavery.  The  nature  of  the  inhabitants  has 
no  more  changed  than  that  of  the  shore  : — what  the 
one  spares,  the  other  will  devour. 

The  land  of  Europe  is  high  :  its  coasts  are  provided 
with  harbours,  tides  run  along  it,  and  vessels  can  tide 
their  way ;  but  the  African  coast  is  unseen  till  you  are 
upon  it ;  there  is  no  escape  when  within  reach  of  it. 
It  lies  all  along  the  course  of  the  voyage  ;  it  presents 
certain  destruction  to  the  vessel,  and  if  evitable  death, 
inevitable  slavery  to  the  crew.  The  coasters  of  the 
Mediterranean,  the  circumnavigators  of  Europe,  the 
monsoon  traders  of  India,  were  not  matched  with  the 
difficulties  of  such  a  sea  ;  they  were  unacquainted  with 
the  terrors  of  such  a  land.*" 

After  the  Phoenician  time  every  endeavour  to  navi- 
gate this  coast  failed,  and  amongst  the  adventurers,  one 
Eudoxus  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  extraordinary 

*  The  supposed  anterior  discovery  of  the  Canaries  by  a  Nor- 
man rover  would  be  no  argument,  for  these  islands  may  be 
reached  without  encountering  the  principal  difficulties  of  the 
enterprise.  And  further  at  the  time  of  the  alleged  discovery, 
the  compass  may  have  been  in  use  in  the  north  of  Europe.  The 
coins  of  the  Baltic  show  the  intimacy  there  of  the  Saracens 
from  the  first  century  of  the  Hejira,  and  African  settlers  in 
England  are  entered  in  Doomsday  Book.  The  use  of  it  in  the 
north,  long  before  its  employment  by  the  Portuguese,  has  been 
asserted  by  various  writers,  not  only  as  derived  from  the  Arabs, 
but  also  as  original,  or  derived  from  the  Chinese. 


NOT  AVOIDABLE   WITHOUT  THE   COMPASS.    251 

resources,  energy,  and  perseverance.  For  nearly 
two  thousand  years,  the  coast  south  of  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  remained  unvisited  by  the  traders  of  the  seas, 
who  were  constantly  entering  in  at,  and  issuing  from, 
these  straits,  and  thence  pursuing  voyages  for  thou- 
sands of  miles  within  and  without.  The  passage — if  I 
may  so  call  it — along  the  coast,  was  re-opened  only 
after  the  compass  had  been  re-discovered,  and  then 
only  after  long  and  persevering  efforts  ;  but  as  soon  as 
the  westernmost  cape  was  doubled,  all  the  world  lay 
open,  and  there  was  no  further  difficulty  in  reaching 
India  on  the  East,  and  the  new  continent  on  the  West, 
the  discovery  of  which  was  in  reality  effected  as  a 
consequence. 

The  opinion  which  I  had  formed  on  the  spot  respect- 
ing the  navigation  of  the  coast,  is  entirely  confirmed  by 
all  naval  authorities.  I  never  met  an  officer,  knowing 
the  coast,  who,  on  the  question  being  put  to  him,  did 
not  answer  of  Africa,  "  without  the  compass  it  is  im- 
possible to  navigate  the  coast/'  The  statements  of 
Herodotus,  the  Periplus  of  Hanno,  the  sea  traffick  of 

ir  est  certain  que  les  marins  des  cotes  de  Normandie  et  de 
Bretagne  employaient  des  le  xiii  siecle  l'aiguille  aimanee  sous  le 
nom  de  marinette." — Esmenard. 

"Raymondus  Lullus  in  1272  describes  a  compass  used  by  the 
Basques  and  Catalonians." — Cosmos,  vol.  ii.  p.  474. 

"  The  Fins  have  a  compass  which  possesses  the  peculiarity  of 
indicating  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun — which  must  be  in 
the  figures  round  it,  as  in  the  Chinese  compass — in  summer  and 
winter,  in  a  manner  that  can  only  agree  with  the  latitude 
49°  20V — Salverte,  Occult  Sciences,  torn.  ii.  p.  252. 


252  SUMMARY   OF   THE   CASE 

the  Carthaginians  on  the  Gold  Coast,  present  no  diffi- 
culty, if  you  admit  the  stone  of  Hercules,  the  cup  of 
Apollo,  the  arrow  of  Abaris,  and  the  Batylia  to  have 
any  meaning;  and  you  must  reject  several  of  the  most 
authoritative  statements  of  history  if  you  will  not. 

I  must  apologise  for  the  space  I  have  devoted  to  this 
antiquarian  subject.  The  matter  is  so  incidental  to  the 
spot,  and  interwoven  with  the  patron  of  these  volumes, 
that,  however  at  variance  my  conclusions  may  be 
with  the  host  of  the  Olympus  of  history,  I  could  not 
omit  them. 

Whatever  be  the  verdict  of  the  reader  on  other 
parts  of  the  case,  it  can  only  be  favourable  as  to  the 
objections  which  our  highest  authorities  have  raised. 
I  have  proved  its  case  to  be  compatible  with  secresy  ; 
— and  if  it  was  secret  it  could  be  lost.  I  have  shown 
in  the  method  first  practised  by  the  Arabs,  the  instru- 
ment to  which  the  otherwise  meaningless  myths  of 
Greece  refer.  I  have  identified  the  stone  of  Hercules, 
the  cup  of  Apollo,  the  arrow  of  Abaris,  the  Batylia 
of  Sanchoniathon,  the  Abadir  of  the  Temple  of  Hiera- 
polis.  That  the  "  Stone  of  Hercules  "  was  the  magnet 
no  one  contests.  I  have  shown  from  extrinsic  evi- 
dence, that  our  instrument  is  not  Chinese,  and  that 
it  was  associated  with  ancient  augury ;  and  I  have 
found  a  people  stretching  through  that  chasm  of  years, 
— from  pagan  Rome  to  Christian  science, — a  people  of 
Phoenicians,  who,  away  from  Europe,  preserved  the 
faith  and  industry  of  their  sunk  metropolis,  and  could 
transmit  the  magnet  from  Hercules  to  Flavio  de  Gioja. 


RESPECTING   THE   PHCENICIAN    COMPASS.      253 

The  polarity  of  the  needle,  the  art  of  manufacturing 
gems,  which  did  not  die  with  them,  —  were  of  the 
secrets  not  hidden  from  Tyre.  Her  story,  by  their 
aid,  ceases  to  be  a  vision,  and  becomes  a  state ; — 
her  greatness  descends  from  its  cloud,  and  walks  the 
earth. 


254  THE   BREAKERS   OFF   SALEE. 


BOOK    II. 

THE  COUNTRY  OF  THE  ROVERS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

OFF    SALEE. 

November  30. 

A  Heaven  of  pale  blue  is  reflected  in  the  Atlantic  ; 
there  is  not  a  speck  above  nor  a  breath  below  ;  there 
is  nothing  that  tells  of  Atlas  or  of  Africa — no  cloud- 
capped  and  snow-clad  peaks  overshadowing  the  ocean, 
or  pillaring  the  sky.  The  land  is  low  and  tame  ;  but 
on  nearing  it  along  the  water's  edge,  a  fast-set  fence  of 
breakers  appears,  which  would  crush  in  an  instant 
the  Baron  Renfrew,  or  Ptolemy  Philopator's  fifty- 
decker  :  in  memory  of  such  incidents,  no  doubt, 
Antaeus  honoured  Neptune  with  a  temple  of  human 
heads.  These  horrid  fangs,  now  covered  with  foam 
and  now  left  bare,  might  well  suggest  the  idea  of  a  dra- 
gon-guarded land.  Calm  as  it  is,  at  a  distance  of 
three  or  four  miles  from  the  shore  we  hear  the  surf 
like  distant  thunder :  the  spray,  on  the  rolling  in  of 
every  wave,  shoots  up  as  if  a  succession  of  mines  were 
fired  by  a  train.     In  this  merciless  fence  the  gaps  are 


THE   TIDAL    CURRENTS.  255 

few  and  far  between,  hard  to  find,  and,  when  found, 
harder  still  to  enter  by.  Along  the  distance  we  have 
run,  there  are  but  three  openings  where  small  craft 
might  find  refuge,  but  then  only  when  such  refuge  is 
not  wanted  ;  that  is  to  say,  with  calm  weather,  a  lead- 
ing wind,  a  tranquil  sea,  and  a  full  tide.  A  vessel 
caught  in  a  westerly  gale  would  have  a  lee-shore  (and 
what  a  lee-shore !)  stretching  in  a  right  line  for  five  or 
six  hundred  miles,  without  a  promontory  behind  which 
to  shelter,  or  a  port  for  which  to  make,  and  (towards 
the  south)  with  a  current  incessantly  setting  upon 
the  breakers. 

It  would  seem  strange  that  there  should  be  this 
surf,  not  only  with  a  perfect  calm,  but  with  a  glass- 
like sea.  There  was,  however,  where  we  lay,  a  slight 
heaving  of  the  water ;  and  these  heaves,  as  they  bore 
landwards,  became,  within  a  mile  of  the  coast,  billows, 
and  then  dashed  upon  it  with  the  extremest  fury,  as  if 
the  Atlantic,  in  contact  with  Africa,  required  not  the 
aid  of  wind,  but  shook  it  with  the  spontaneous  heaves 
of  its  majestic  breast.  We  lay  for  hours  with  the  same 
marks  on — as  if  we  had  been  a  rock.  The  tide  rises 
and  falls  upon  the  shore,  but  does  not  run  along  the 
land.  The  Atlantic  merely  heaves  up  and  down,  but 
shifts  not  its  place.  It  is  met  in  front  by  a  straight 
line  ;  and  the  tidal  currents  of  the  coast  of  Europe  are 
stopped  at  the  great  indraught  of  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  ;  so  that  to  the  southward  there  extends  a 
region  of  some  hundred  miles  of  dead  water.  Hence 
the  violence  of  the  action  of  the  waves  upon  the  shore. 


256  DESCRIPTION   OF  CURRENTS. 

With  our  indented  and  slanting  coasts,  there  is  always 
a  current  running  in  front  of  the  land,  which  serves  as 
a  breakwater  against  the  effects  of  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  tide  :  here  there  is  no  such  protection.  In  like 
manner  may  be  explained  the  incessant  disturbance  of 
the  Bay  of  Biscay  :  the  horns  break  the  tides  along 
the  shore,  and  the  Atlantic  surges  in  upon  the  con- 
gested waters.  Below  Rabat  a  current  begins  to  be 
sensible ;  it  runs  south.  At  Mogadore  it  reaches  the 
speed  of  three  knots  an  hour.  There  are  combined  to 
produce  it,  the  sweep  of  the  back  eddy  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  the  nightly  gales  which  blow  from  the  sea  into  the 
interior  of  Africa  to  supply  the  rarification  of  the 
Great  Desert.  This  nightly  indraught  begins  only  at 
the  province  of  Sus ;  to  the  north  the  ordinary  land 
and  sea  winds  prevail.  In  these  latitudes  it  is  calm  at 
sun-rise  and  sun-set.  The  breeze  freshens  by  night 
from  the  land,  by  day  from  the  sea— the  former  breath- 
ing a  gentle  gale,  the  second  reaching  to  a  top-gallant 
breeze. 

The  sand  is  not  blown  up  from  the  sea,  as  some  have 
supposed,  nor  down  from  the  Desert.  In  travelling 
over  it,  you  would  suppose  that  you  were  crossing  a 
rocky  country. 

On  the  coast  its  structure  is  exposed,  and  there  it 
appears  to  be  a  bank  of  sand,  with  a  coast  of  stone. 
Worn  by  the  waves,  the  unsupported  rock  comes 
tumbling  down,  and  the  fragments  often  sticking  on  the 
edge  form  the  breakwater.  The  "  conformably  over- 
lying M  rock*  is  an  induration  of  the  sand  by  oxide  of 


NATURAL  DEFENCES  OF  MOROCCO.     257 

iron  ;  sand,  newly  exposed,  immediately  begins  to 
crust. 

This  bank  must  have  been  left  by  the  waters  of  the 
deluge,  escaping  westward,  charged  with  the  sand  of 
the  interior.  This  idea  was  first  suggested  to  me  by 
the  deposits  on  both  sides  of  the  rock  of  Gibraltar. 
The  sand  blocks  up  to  its  very  roofs  a  cavern  which 
opens  to  the  eastward. 

Thus  have  been  estranged  the  land  and  the  water, 
and  the  approach  to  each  is  closed  from  the  other. 
Such  is  the  defence  of  Morocco  on  the  ocean  side  : 
its  iron-bound  coast  on  the  Mediterranean  is  scarcely 
a  less  formidable  bulwark.  To  the  east,  and  to  the 
south,  it  is  encircled  by  deserts  and  wildernesses. 
I  had  subsequently  the  satisfaction  to  find  that  this 
fence  of  rocks  had  not  failed  to  fix  the  attention  of 
the  ancients.  An  old  author,  quoted  by  Suidas,  says, 
that  "  rocks,  to  which  the  name  Harmata*  was  given, 
were  strewed  along  the  shore  by  Hercules  to  defend  it 
from  the  approach  of  wild  beasts.11  The  beasts  are 
ships,  to  which  the  names  of  animals  were  given — from 
the  figure-heads  this  fertile  source  of  mythological 
personation  has  given  us  Pegasus,  the  Earn  of  Phryxus, 
the  Bull  of  Europa. 

December  1st.  We  are  still  off  our  port  ranging  up 
and  down,  and  unable  to  enter,  although  we  have  the 

*  From  D"iy  haram,  to  heap  up  ;  the  term  was  applied  to 
the  banks  of  tombs  and  the  dams  of  rivers.  Avienus  considers 
these  Harmata  to  be  relics  of  the  causeway  which  Hercules 
constructed  to  bring  over  the  oxen  of  Geryon. 

VOL.    I.  S 


258 


SALEE  AND   RABAT. 


most  beautiful  weather  and  the  calmest  sea!  We 
cannot  enter  without  a  leading  wind,  that  is,  from  the 
west,  and  if  it  blows  from  the  west,  we  must  run  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  for  shelter.  A  Portuguese  on 
board,  familiar  with  the  coast,  calls  the  ports  of  Bar- 
bary  "  excommunicated."  Last  year  a  schooner  was 
detained  seven  months  before  it  could  get  away,  and 
then  had  to  sail  with  only  half  its  cargo. 

We  have  viewed  at  our  leisure  the  city  of  Salee  and 
Rabat,  and  their  environs.  It  is  a  strange  place  and 
country.  The  land  is  a  series  of  long,  gentle,  bare, 
sweeping  drives,  at  the  edge  cut  out  into  cliffs  and 
cones  as  if  with  a  pastry  cutter.  About  three  miles 
north  of  Salee  we  descried,  through  the  mists  of  spray, 
a  magnificent  palace.  It  changed  to  a  gaunt  ruin. 
A  little  further  on  there  is  a  kubbe,  or  saint's  tomb, 


surmounted  by  a  dome,  like  the  tombs  of  Judaea  and 
India.  Next  comes  the  point  of  Salee,  and  over  it 
flutters  the  red  flag  of  the  "  Rovers."  Gardens  sur- 
round the  town,  and  a  few  palm  trees  are  seen  among 
them.  Between  Salee  and  Rabat  the  river  enters  the 
sea  over  the  bar.  Rabat  is  imposing  with  its  fortresses. 
The  great  tower  stands  on  elevated  ground  at  the 
bottom  of  the  harbour.  Rabat  was  built  at  the  close  of 
the  twelfth  century  to  facilitate — though  the  Moors  were 


THE   MOORISH    EMPIRE  OF  OLD.  259 

in  possession  of  Ceuta  and  all  the  northern  coast — the 
best  expedition  then  directed  against  Spain.  Across 
this  bar  was  launched  a  large  part  of  those  hordes 
which  followed  Jacob  Almanzor,  and  of  that  expedition 
under  his  successor,  of  half  a  million  of  men,  which 
have  immortalised  the  Navas  de  Tolosa. 

The  Moorish  empire  then  extended  in  Africa  above 
a  thousand  miles  from  east  to  west ;  and  five  hundred 
and  fifty,  in  its  broadest  part,  from  north  to  south. 
It  included  also  one  half  of  Spain,  and  menaced  the 
remainder.  It  embellished  Africa  as  well  as  Seville 
and  Cordova,  with  some  of  the  noblest  structures  that 
any  age  has  produced.  It  caused  arts  and  science  to 
flourish  amidst  the  ravages  of  war.  Rabat  outshone 
the  "  court"  of  Morocco, — merchants  gathered  to  share 
in  its  commerce,  and  professors  to  teach  in  its  schools. 

A  Roman-like  aqueduct  still  strides  along  the 
plain,  and  from  the  tower,  raised  to  supply  the  want  of 
mountains,  the  fleets  of  foes,  or  the  convoys  of  friends, 
could  be  descried  for  twenty  leagues  at  sea.  This 
meteor  capital  of  the  "  west "  was  seen,  and  then 
vanished.  It  was  laid  low  in  the  wars  of  the  Almo- 
hadis  and  the  Benemerines. 

Further  to  the  south,  there  are  long  lines  of  low 
white  walls  connected  with  a  small  building,  where 
the  Sultan  was  residing.  In  the  rear  there  was  a 
large  encampment  of  cavalry  in  a  square,  as  if  it  had 
been  a  Roman  legion.  We  calculated  their  force  at 
ten  thousand. 

The  last  intelligence  we  had  received  before  sailing 

s  2 


260  IMPORTANCE  OF   KEEPING 

from  Gibraltar,  was  that  an  insurrection  had  broken 
out  at  Morocco,  and  another  on  the  borders  of  Algiers, 
in  favour  of  Abd-el-Kadir.  The  French  steamer,  that 
was  recently  here,  came  to  press  an  answer  from  the 
unfortunate  monarch  to  an  ultimatum  from  the  French 
government,  giving  him  the  option  of  war  with  France 
or  Abd-el-Kadir. 

It  was  painful  to  reflect  how  much  the  fortunes  of 
Europe,  and  the  internal  condition  and  ultimate 
government  of  France,  were  dependent  upon  the  weak- 
ness or  caprice  of  the  descendants  of  the  "  Rovers  of 
Sake."  For  a  step  involving  the  entrance  of  French 
troops  into  Morocco,  by  changing  the  position  of 
Algeria  into  a  basis  of  operation  against  Africa,  would 
have  similarly  changed  France  in  respect  to  Europe. 
It  would  have  subjugated  the  policy  of  the  metropolis 
to  the  conduct  of  the  colony.  It  was  no  object  of  the 
cabinet  of  the  Tuilleries  to  drive  the  Sultan  into  a  false 
and  untenable  position  at  home,  or  to  compromise  him 
with  France.  The  Government  of  Algiers  had  got  the 
management  of  the  negotiation,  and  had  this  purpose. 
My  trip  had  reference  to  this  matter,  and  was  not  un- 
invited by  the  Moorish  Government,  otherwise  I  should 
not  have  risked  presenting  myself  at  so  unfrequented 
an  entrance  to  this  inhospitable  land.  Adverse  winds, 
however,  detained  me  in  the  Gut,  whilst  steam  carried 
the  French— that  is,  the  Algerine — emissary  to  his  des- 
tination. Nothing  could  be  more  tantalizing  than  thus 
to  hover  above  the  country,  and  in  sight  of  its  assem- 
bled multitudes,  in  utter  ignorance  of  what  was  passing, 


MOROCCO   A   FRIENDLY   STATE.  261 

and  with  the  contingency  before  my  eyes  of  being  even 
yet  unable  to  set  foot  on  it. 

In  pursuance  of  the  importance  of  the  resolves  of 
the  Council  Chamber  of  this  African  state,  I  reverted 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  last  war,  and  the  great 
struggle  of  England  and  France,  of  which  another 
African  state,  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, had  been  the  first  cause  and  the  original  field ; 
and  the  question  naturally  arose,  "  Was  it  possible 
that  Napoleon, — who,  after  an  attempt  on,  and  a  fail- 
ure in  Egypt,  planned  the  conquest  of  Spain, — should 
have  neglected  a  country  identified  with  the  language, 
manners,  and  institutions  of  the  one,  and  available 
for  the  injury  or  the  protection  of  the  other  %  The 
opinion  of  Lord  Nelson  as  to  the  importance  to  England 
of  the  friendship  of  the  Moor,  proves  that  Morocco 
was  a  piece  in  the  great  European  game,  and  one 
which  even  his  antagonists  understood.  But  Napo- 
leon's moves  were  beyond  their  reach.  His  game  was 
lost  by  his  own  faults  ;  their  merit  (I  speak  not  of 
mere  battles,  or  even  of  campaigns)  consisted  only  in 
turning  to  account  the  incidents  of  his  fortunes. 

The  siege  of  Gibraltar  was  promised  by  him  to 
the  Spaniards,  when  the  French  troops  crossed  the 
Pyrenees  ;  and  such  a  measure  would  have  powerfully 
contributed  to  the  success  of  his  project.  Gibraltar, 
in  that  case,  would  have  been  the  point  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  war.  But  this  course  could  scarcely 
be  taken  without  some  chance  of  success,  and  that 
depended   entirely   on   the   dispositions   of    Morocco. 


262  PLAN   OF  SIR   SYDNEY   SMITH. 

Napoleon  having  foregone  all  the  political  advantages 
to  be  secured  by  this  siege,  it  may  not  be  too  much 
to  assume,  that  he  made  the  mistake  in  respect  to 
Morocco  which  he  did  in  respect  to  Spain,  and  per- 
ceived that  the  Moors  were  beyond  his  power  to 
secure,  or  his  reach  to  coerce.  At  St.  Helena  he 
recognised  the  identity  of  the  position,  and  the  simi- 
larity of  character  of  the  two  people. 

I  now  recalled  the  incidents  which,  in  early  life, 
fixed  my  attention  first  upon  such  subjects.  Sir 
Sydney  Smith  had  taken  the  trouble  to  detail  to  me 
his  plan  for  counteracting  Napoleon's  invasion  of 
Egypt.  It  was  to  occupy  Morocco.  He  described  it  as 
a  country  of  inexhaustible  resources,  once  the  granary 
of  the  world ;  it  had  lost  nothing  of  its  fertility,  and 
contained  vast  accumulated  treasures.  The  people  had 
been  long  oppressed,  and  would  gladly  hail  an  in- 
vader. England  with  ten  thousand  men,  might  make 
herself  mistress  of  it,  and  gain  in  it  more  than  India, 
and  save  India  by  frustrating  Napoleon  in  the  rear. 
We  had  begun  a  great  mistake,  by  driving  the  French 
out  of  Egypt.  By  Morocco  we  should  have  restored 
the  balance  in  Europe,  prevented  a  great  war,  and 
have  joined  France  in  introducing  civilization  and 
Christianity  into  Africa.  Well  do  I  recollect  the 
perplexity  into  which  I  was  thrown  by  these  ideas : 
fortunately,  it  was  not  to  a  European  that  I  had 
recourse  to  discriminate  between  right  and  wrong, 
but  to  an  African — Hassam  d?  Ghieo.  He  told  me 
to    make  the   case    my  own,  and  see  what  I  should 


PASSAGE   OF  THE  BAR.  263 

think  of  France  invading  England,  because  Russia 
had  invaded  Turkey. 

He  showed  me,  that  if  England  had  so  involved 
herself,  it  would  have  been  left' open  for  France  to 
establish  herself  in  Egypt,  and  thence  act  against 
India;  that  England  had  triumphed  in  that  war, 
because  France  had  unjustly  attacked  other  states, 
and  England  had  espoused  the  just  side. 

Rabat,  Dec.  2nd. — This  morning  the  bar  was  com- 
paratively quiet,  and  seemed  passable ;  there  was  also 
a  light  wind  from  the  westward.  The  day  was 
lovely,  the  ledges  of  the  rock  and  fortresses  were 
crowded  with  Moors  in  their  haiks  squatting  down, 
and  they  looked  like  rows  of  large  gulls.  A  little 
after  one  p.m.,  it  being  high  tide,  a  large  row-boat 
appeared  behind  the  bar  ;  presently  it  came  dancing 
over  the  surf.  We  had  in  company  an  English  and 
a  Portuguese  schooner.  The  English  took  the  lead ; 
we  followed.  It  was  like  going  into  action,  and  in 
presence  of  an  audience  :  every  horizontal  piece  of 
rock,  wall,  and  ground,  was  covered  with  the  strange 
squatting  figures  assembled  to  witness  our  prowess, 
or  mischance.  There  was  great  outcry  and  confusion, 
and  we  might  have  thought  there  was  more  noise 
than  danger,  had  our  two  companions  fared  as  well 
as  ourselves.  They  both  got  on  shore  inside,  but  the 
wind  falling,  and  the  tide  ebbing,  they  were  cleared 
of  their  cargoes,  and  got  off  at  full  tide  during  the 
night. 

The  English  consular   agent  came   off  to  give  us 


264  A  CUSTOM-HOUSE  AT   RABAT. 

pratique.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  performed 
his  functions  as  quarantine  .master.  His  commission 
was  not  from  the  Moorish  Government,  but  from 
the  consular  body  at  Tangier.  After  receiving  in  his 
hand  the  health  patent,  he  hastily  transferred  it  to  a 
pair  of  kitchen  tongs,  prepared  for  its  unexpected 
office  by  having  the  knobs  painted  red.  On  the  shore 
we  saw  a  new  building,  with  arches,  in  process  of 
erection  :  it  was  a  custom-house. 

Before  the  custom-house  we  found  the  governor 
of  the  town  seated,  and  received  from  him  a  most 
courteous  welcome.  The  consular  agent  kindly  of- 
fered the  shelter  of  his  roof,  the  only  one  we  could  have 
got  at  Rabat ;  and  a  messenger  from  the  minister 
soon  after  came  to  invite  me  to  the  royal  abode. 

This  is  the  first  Mussulman  country  in  which  I  have 
had  my  baggage  opened  at  a  custom-house.  I  was 
too  indignant  to  be  present.  I  was  told  that  the 
officer  took  care  to  show  that  it  should  be  only  a  cere- 
mony, for  he  sat  at  a  distance,  and  was  earnestly 
engaged  in  conversation  when  the  packages  were 
unloosed.  I  found,  however,  that  designs  had  been 
formed  upon  my  wardrobe.  The  Sultan  had  sent 
an  emissary,  Mustafa  Ducaly,  to  France  and  England. 
On  his  return,  amongst  other  surprising  things,  he 
had  to  tell  that  on  landing  in  England,  at  the  port 
of  Southampton,  duty  had  been  charged  on  the  clothes 
he  wore.  The  minister,  Ben  Edris,  intimated  to  him 
that  he  might  now  make  reprisals.  The  travelled 
Moor   proceeded,  by  way  of  revanche,  to  be  far  too 


THE   BARBICAN.  265 

accurate  and  amusing  on  the  subjects  of  English  hotel 
hospitality,  strict  morality,  workhouse  benevolence,  and 
waiter  manners,  than  I  liked  at  such  a  moment  to 
commend,  or  had  disposition  to  listen  to. 

Dec  3rd. — I  spent  the  morning  on  the  top  of  the 
consul's  house,  from  which  there  is  a  good  view  of  the 
town,  and  the  ruins  of  the  Alcazaba  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  great  town  on  the  other  :  the  river  ran  in 
front — beyond  it,  the  long  white  lines  of  the  walls 
of  the  terrible  Salee,  between  which  and  the  river 
the  governor  of  El  Garb  had  his  encampment  in  the 
form  of  the  letter  Q. 

I  received  a  visit  on  the  roof  from  the  father  of 
Mustafa  Ducaly,  who  was  a  striking  likeness  of  Sir 
Francis  Palgrave,  and  as  active  and  merry.  Every 
Arab  is  a  living  record. 

A  guard  having  been  procured,  we  walked  through 
the  town,  which  was  thronged.  We  met,  however,  with 
no  incivility.  Our  guards  were  careful  in  keeping  us 
out  of  the  way  of  the  troops  encamped  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. I  returned  from  the  excursion  filled  with 
two  objects ;  the  gate  of  the  Alcazaba,  and  the  Caid, 
or  governor  of  the  town. 

This  gate,  or  rather  Barbican,  is  a  massive  structure 
of  sand-stone.  The  outer  front  (at  right  angles  to  the 
inner)  is  built  against  :  the  inner  stands  in  its  beauty, 
neither  disfigured  nor  concealed  :  it  is  covered  with 
the  richest  of  those  figures  with  which  we  are  fami- 
liar, under  the  name  of  Moresque,  or  Arabesque ;  not 
moulded  in   stucco,    but  carved  in  stone.     All  is  in 


266  THE  ENCAMPMENTS. 

ruins,  or  utterly  effaced  and  levelled,  that  this  circuit 
of  walls  was  raised  to  protect.  From  the  platform 
commanding  the  entrance  of  the  river,  we  obtained  a 
perfect  idea  of  the  place  ;  and  after  enjoying  for  a 
while  the  view  landward,  and  the  lashing  of  the  sea 
upon  the  bar,  we  proceeded  towards  the  encampments, 
which  lay  to  the  south,  to  visit  the  walls  of  the  city. 
They  might  seem  the  ruins  of  some  unheard-of  Car- 
thage, rather  than  of  an  upstart  village  on  the  extreme 
border  of  the  world.  Running  in  all  directions,  it  is 
puzzling  to  make  out  what  they  exclude  or  what  they 
enclose — they  are  now  close — now  far  off — here  in- 
tersecting a  field — there  skirting  the  horizon.  They 
are  of  Tapia  ;  some  parts  are  forty  feet  in  height, 
apparently  of  excessive  thickness,  and  with  square  solid 
towers.  At  one  place  they  resembled  the  land  wall 
of  Constantinople.  The  space  between  the  first  and 
second  wall  is  filled  with  orange-groves  or  gardens  ; 
the  produce  of  some  of  them  is  3,000  dollars  (600/.), 
which  would  be  doubled  if  the  bar  were  passable.  On 
our  way  back  we  were  stopped  in  one  of  the  streets 
by  some  horsemen,  galloping  and  discharging  their 
muskets.  A  little  farther  on  I  came  suddenly  upon 
Sir  F.  Palgraves'  likeness,  leading  a  laden  ass  :  a  ser- 
vant was  walking  behind  him  doing  nothing.  The 
wealthiest  disdain  not  to  perform,  like  the  patriarchs,  the 
humblest  offices ;  and  I  was  told  that  the  late  governor 
might  have  been  seen  leading  his  own  mules  to  water. 

As     we    were    passing     through  a   narrow    lane, 
the   guard   stopped   and    muttered,    "  El  Ca'ld ! "     I 


THE   CAID  OF  RABAT.  267 

looked,  expecting  to  see  the  great  man's  cortege,  and  it 
was  some  time  before  I  distinguished  the  personage 
pacing  along  alone,  wrapped  in  his  haik.  The  soldiers 
inclined,  and  saluted  in  a  manner  new  to  me.  He 
stopped  for  a  moment,  uttered  a  few  words,  and  passed 
on.  It  seemed  as  if  I  had  met  the  proconsul  of 
Mauritania  Tangitana.  The  fasces  only  were  wanting 
to  the  Roman  toga  and  the  Roman  port.  On  return- 
ing home  I  made. inquiry  concerning  him.  The  an- 
swer was,  "  He  is  a  just  man/'  I  asked,  how  then  he 
came  to  be  governor  1  the  answer  was,  "  He  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Town."  Supposing  that  my  ears  had 
deceived  me,  I  repeated  the  question,  and  was  an- 
swered a  second  time,  "  He  was  appointed  by  the  Town/' 
The  story  is  as  follows  : — 

A  REVOLUTION   IN  BARBARY. 

The  Ca'id  of  Rabat,  who  had  enjoyed  his  office  for 
twelve  years,  was  one  day  surprised  by  the  entrance  of 
a  "  deputation,"  to  tell  him  that  the  Town  had  des- 
patched a  messenger  to  the  Sultan  to  solicit  his  (the 
Caid's)  removal ;  and  that  until  they  received  an  an- 
swer, their  civility  could  extend  to  no  act  of  obedience. 
The  Ca'id  retreated  up  stairs,  put  his  head  out  of  a 
little  top  window,  and  seeing  "  who  and  how  many  " 
there  were,  bowed  to  "  public  opinion."  The  Ca'id  was 
deposed,  and  fined  40,000  dollars.  It  so  happened 
that  the  new  Caid  sent  them,  having  been  before  at 
Salee,  was  better  known  than  trusted  ;  he,  therefore,  on 
his  arrival,  was  informed  by  the  people  of  Rabat,  that 


268  CONVERSATION    RESPECTING  THE 

they  had  already  despatched  to  the  Sultan  an  envoy 
and  this  message : — "  We  do  not  want  a  stranger  to 
govern  us,  and  particularly  not  this  stranger  ;  we  have 
plenty  of  our  own  people  who  can  govern  better  both 
for  the  Sultan  and  for  us."  The  complaisant  Sultan 
on  this  revoked  his  second  appointment,  and  autho- 
rised them  to  choose  a  Caid  for  themselves.  Their 
first  choice  fell  on  a  rich  merchant  named  Mike  Brittel, 
who  had  taken  the  lead  in  the  revolt  :  he  declined, 
and  recommended  the  present  Caid,  who  was  there- 
upon chosen.  This  had  happened  within  the  last  few 
weeks;  and  the  election  had  been  confirmed  by  the 
Sultan  only  since  his  arrival. 

Inquiring  as  to  the  security  of  life  and  property,  I 
was  informed  that  at  Rabat  confiscation  was  not  a 
penalty  for  treason.  Here  no  real  property  can  be 
held  by  the  Sultan.  At  Tangier  there  is  confiscation  : 
the  lands  there  are  held  of  the  Sultan,  as  he  came 
into  possession  by  the  evacuation  of  the  English.  At 
Arzela  and  Mazagan,  the  Sultan  is  feudal  superior, 
because  these  are  conquered  demesnes.  This  is  our 
ancient  law  of  treason,  based  on  fealty  and  homage — 
as  depending  upon  fief  and  benefice. 

The  following  conversation  occurred  with  my  host : — 

Q.  Has  there  been  any  execution  in  Salee  or  Rabat 
since  you  have  been  here  1 

A.  No. 

Q.  Have  there  been  any  assassinations  1 

A.  Four  years  ago  there  was  a  man  killed  at  Rabat. 

Q.  Why  was  the  murderer  not  executed  \ 


GOVERNMENT   OF   RABAT.  2G9 

A.  Because  the  Emperor's  answer  was,  that  he  had 
done  well :  he  killed  a  man  in  his  harem. 

Q.  Have  there  been,  during  these  four  years,  any 
grave  crimes,  such  as  breaking  into  houses,  rob- 
bery, &c.  ? 

A .  No  ;  not  that  I  have  heard  of. 

Q.  What  then  are  the  crimes  which  are  committed  1 

A.  Vegetables  and  such  things  are  often  stolen  in 
the  market.  Jews  are  beaten  going  to  Salee  :  they 
are  required  to  give  money  ;  but  then  that  is  when 
the  wandering  tribes  are  encamped  here. 

Q.  Then  you  enjoy  security  and  tranquillity  ? 

A.  Yes.   ' 

Q.  Are  the  rich  persecuted  by  the  Government 
because  of  their  wealth  ? 

A .  Yes,  but  only  when  they  are  in  the  Government 
service. 

Q.  During  these  four  years,  how  often  have  irregular 
contributions  been  raised  in  the  town  by  the  Govern- 
ment ? 

A.  The  only  taxes  are  upon  laden  camels  and  mer- 
chandise. 

Q.  What  are  the  exactions  to  which  public  servants 
are  exposed  \ 

A .  They  take  everything  from  them. 

Q.  Does  that  often  happen  % 

A.  No,  not  very  often. 

Q.  How  many  incidents  of  the  kind  do  you  recol- 
lect 1 

A.  The  late  Ca'id  had  been  in  office  twelve  years, 


270  STORY   OF 

and  his  father  twelve  before  him.  The  Emperor  then 
fixed  his  demand  at  40,000  dollars.  The  Oa'id  said, 
he  had  not  the  money  to  pay.  The  present  Ca'id  has 
shown  that  he  had  as  much  in  houses  and  gardens  in 
Rabat  alone. 

Q.  Since  he  could  neither  impose  contributions 
on  the  town,  nor  extort  money  from  individuals, 
how  did  he  accumulate  wealth  % 

A.  He  was  a  very  venal  man,  and  you  could  do 
anything  with  him  for  four  dollars. 

Q.  His  profits  then  consisted  in  the  corrupt  ad- 
ministration of  justice  I 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  A  Caid  in  Rabat  may  then  be  guilty  of  corrup- 
tion, but  not  of  violence  \ 

A .  Of  corruption  and  violence  too. 

He  then  related  to  me  the  following  story  : — 

"Four  months  ago,  the  boy  now  cooking  in  the 
patio  rushed  in  dressed  as  a  Moor,  and  throwing 
his  cap  on  the  ground  called  out,  "I  am  a  Jew.  I 
claim  the  protection  of  France  and  England."  Soldiers 
followed  him,  but  I  would  not  let  them  take  him 
from  under  my  roof.  His  father  was  a  renegade. 
His  property  (3000  dollars)  was  placed,  on  his  death, 
in  the  hands  of  an  executor,  who — the  children  under 
nine  years  of  age  being  held  to  be  of  their  father's 
faith — forced  him  from  his  mother.  Refusing  to 
profess  Islamism,  the  mother  and  the  boy  were  con- 
fined apart,  and  she  was  beaten  to  induce  her  to 
influence  her   son.     The  boy  at  last   did   pronounce 


A  JEWISH    BOY.  271 

the  words  "  La  Illah,"  &c. ;  his  head  was  shaved  ;  the 
Mussulman  dress  put  on  him,  and  he  was  about,  as 
is  the  custom,  to  be  paraded  on  horseback  through  the 
town,  but  he  recanted.  This  is  death  by  the  Mussul- 
man law.  Those  who  were  present  describe  the 
child's  acts  and  words  as  wonderful.  He  said  to  the 
Caid,  "  Mahomet  has  not  had  power  to  convert  me, 
and  your  acts  make  me  hate  his  faith. "  After  this,  he 
made  his  escape  to  the  consulate,  and  the  door  has 
been  besieged  by  persons  seeking  either  to  force,  or  to 
seduce  him  away.  Frequently  the  governor  sent  me  mes- 
sages about  him.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  the  soldiers 
while  sitting  in  the  court,  kept  constantly  calling  to 
him  by  the  name  of  "  Abdallah,"  which  they  had 
given  him.  For  some  time  he  took  no  notice,  and 
returned  no  answer.  At  last  he  said,  "  Why  do  you 
call  Abdallah  %  The  boy  with  that  name  is  dead. 
There  is  only  here  Meshod." 

At  my  request  the  boy  was  sent  for:  he  seemed 
dogged  and  stupid,  and  made  very  light  of  his  trials. 
It  was  with  difficulty  that  I  extracted  from  him  a  bare 
corroboration  of  the  story.  On  being  repeatedly  urged 
by  questions,  he  said  he  had  answered  the  Caid,  "  I 
won't  be  a  Mussulman  ;  for  your  religion  has  no 
strength.  I  forgive  you  my  money  that  I  may  be  a 
Jew."  I  said  to  him  he  ought  to  be  very  grateful  to 
the  Consul  for  having  befriended  him  :  his  answer  was, 
"  I  am  thankful  to  God." 

This  was  one  of  the  occasions  on  which  the  religious 
feelings  of  the  people  were   liable  to  the  extremest 


272  STORY   OF 

excitement.  In  no  Mussulman  country  have  the 
Jews  been  subjected,  as  in  Europe,  to  processes  for 
compelling  conversion  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  to  re- 
lapse after  pronouncing  the  fatal  words  is  a  crime  for 
which  there  is  no  forgiveness  in  the  Law,  and  no 
power  of  mercy  in  the  State.  The  whole  case  here 
rested  upon  the  boy's  having  uttered  the  profession  of 
faith  ;  yet  in  the  official  correspondence  which  I  have 
perused,  this  fact  is  suppressed. 

The  persecution  in  this  case  arose  from  the  guar- 
dian, who  would  have  been  remunerated  for  the  ma- 
nagement of  the  funds  by  one-third  of  the  property, 
had  the  boy  been  a  Mussulman  ;  but,  being  a  Jew,  he 
could  not  inherit  from  his  Mussulman  father,  and  the 
whole  of  the  property  would  go  to  the  Sultan.  The 
Caid's  profit  was  out  of  the  counter-bribery  of  the 
guardian  and  the  mother.  The  circumstances  becom- 
ing known,  general  indignation  was  aroused  against 
the  Caid.  Immediately  afterward  the  application  was 
made  to  the  Sultan  for  his  removal ;  and  this  was  one 
of  the  charges  preferred  against  him. 

A  parallel  incident,  which  occurred  five  or  six  years 
ago,  has  been  introduced  and  falsified  on  the  Spanish 
stage.  I  repeat  it  as  it  was  narrated  to  me  by  the 
Jew,  who  detailed  it  to  the  Spanish  Dramatists  : — 

"  A  Jewish  girl,  the  daughter  of  an  ill-tempered 
mother,  having  been  beaten  and  in  great  sorrow, 
one  day  ran  into  the  adjoining  Moorish  house  (at 
Tangiers  the  Jews  have  no  separate  quarters).  The 
Moorish  women  were  charmed  with  her  beauty,  spoke 


A  JEWISH   GIRL.  273 

to  her  kindly,  and  advised  her  to  be  like  them,  and  live 
with  them,  and  she  preferring  them  to  her  own  people, 
repeated  *  La  Ulan,'  &c.  The  women  thereupon  went 
to  the  Caid,  and  told  him  that  a  Jewish  girl  whose 
name  was  Skemish,  and  whose  face  was  like  her  name 
(Sun),  had  come  to  them,  and  that  God  had  enlightened 
her.  The  Caid  was  glad,  and  sent  for  her.  When  she 
came,  she  said  that  the  Moorish  women  had  lied  ;  but 
they  having  testified  as  before,  she  was  shut  in  a  prison 
with  water  only  aDd  black  bread.  The  Caid  then,  not 
knowing  what  to  do,  sent  to  tell  the  Sultan.  Word 
came  that  she  should  be  sent  to  Fez.  The  Caid  then  sent 
for  the  father  of  the  girl,  and  said,  '  You  must  pay  me 
forty  dollars  for  the  expenses  of  your  daughter's  journey.' 
But  he  was  poor,  and  could  not  pay  the  money ;  and  he 
went  lamenting  through  the  streets,  and  so  met  the 
Spanish  Consul,  who  gave  him  the  forty  dollars,  and  the 
girl  was  sent  away  with  eight  soldiers.  A  traveller  over- 
took them  on  the  way,  and  joining  company  with  them 
inquired  her  story,  and  said  she  deserved  death  ;  but 
pitying  her,  he  said  he  would  converse  with  her ;  so 
they  suffered  him.  This  was  no  Moor,  but  a  Jew  and 
a  neighbour,  who  had  disguised  himself  as  a  Moor,  in 
order  to  encourage  her  to  remain  steadfast  and  support 
her  affliction.  When  they  had  come  near  the  city,  she 
was  made  to  halt,  and  great  honour  was  prepared  for 
her.  Four  hundred  young  men,  chosen  from  out  of 
the  servants  of  the  Sultan,  played  before  her  the 
'powder  game.'  Preceded  by  these,  and  followed  by 
a  great  concourse  of  people,  she  was  conducted  to  the 

VOL.   I.  T 


274  STORY  OF 

palace.  Next  day  the  lady  of  the  Harem  came  to  her. 
She  kissed  her  between  the  eyes ;  made  her  sit  down 
by  her  side ;  told  her  maidens  to  bring  rich  clothes, 
and  clothed  her  with  them  ;  and  then  taking  her  by 
the  hand,  they  walked  in  the  palace  and  the  gar- 
dens, and  the  lady  said,  '  All  these  things  shall  be 
yours,  and  you  shall  have  a  prince  for  a  bridegroom.' 
The  Jewess  answered  to  the  lady,  '  What  matters  it  to 
the  bird  whether  its  cage  be  of  ivory  or  of  reed,  or 
whether  it  be  hung  in  a  palace  or  a  hut  \ '  After 
several  days,  word  was  brought  to  her,  that  she  must 
get  ready  and  come  to  the  Sultan.  She  came  before 
the  Sultan,  and  he  called  her,  '  My  dear  Skemish/  and 
made  her  sit  down  beside  him,  and  he  was  eating 
kusscousoo,  and  he  said  to  her  "  Eat."  But  she  said, 
'lama  Jewess,  and  cannot  eat  kusscousoo  prepared  by 
your  people/  The  Sultan  said,  '  Islam  is  true.'  But 
she  answered  him  boldly.  Then  three  baskets  were 
brought,  one  with  embroidered  clothes,  in  another 
precious  stones,  and  in  another  pearls  :  '  These/  said 
he,  'are  the  marriage  gifts  I  had  prepared  for  you, 
and  you  shall  choose  a  bridegroom  of  the  sons  of 
the  CaidV  But  she  answered  him  as  before.  He  then 
became  very  angry,  and  said,  !  Now  your  blood  shall 
run  like  water  on  the  earth  ;'  and  she  answered,  *  I 
am  ready  to  die/  She  was  then  given  over  to  the 
Caid  to  be  judged  according  to  the  law  as  an  apostate. 
The  Caid,  when  he  found  that  his  words  did  not 
persuade,  nor  his  threats  move  her,  assembled  the 
rabbis  and  the  elders  of  the  Jews,  and  said  to  them, 


A   JEWISH   GIRL.  275 

'  If  this  maiden,  once  a  Jewess,  remain  thus  perverse, 
the  Sultan  will  assuredly  slay  not  her  only,  but  every 
Jew  in  Fez.     Advise  then  what  you  shall  do/     So 
the  elders  went  to  her  in  the  prison,  offering  to  absolve 
her  of  the  sin,  and  telling  her  that  it  was  better  for 
one  soul  to  perish  than  the  whole  people.    She  an- 
swered,  '  Every  man  must  bear  his  own  burden :  the 
blood  of  all  the  people  will  not  save  me  :  I  will  not 
do  this  thing.'      And   the    Jews  went   out   wonder- 
ing.     The  Caid  then  sent  word,  that  on  the  next 
morning  he  would  come  with  a  crown  of  laurel  (such 
was  the  word)  in  one  hand,  and  the  (paper,  for  her 
execution,)  in  the  other.     On  the  morrow,  when  the 
prison   door  was   opened,  she  was   kneeling   on   the 
ground,  and  remembering  the  words  of   the  Sultan, 
she  said,  '  Let  my  blood  now  run  on  the  earth  like 
water.'     So  the  Caid  was  sorrowful,  closed  the  door, 
and  came  again  on  the  morrow,  and  found  her  kneel- 
ing in  the  same  place,  and  again   she  repeated  the 
same  words ;  so  it  was  appointed  that  she  should  die 
on  the  next  market-day.     And  when  the  day  came, 
four  criers  were  sent  forth  to  proclaim  that  a  Jewish 
woman  was  to  die,  for  she  had  reviled  the  prophet. 
When  she  was   brought  to  the  market-place,  in   the 
midst  of  a  great  concourse  from  the  town  and  neigh- 
bouring   country    assembled    for    the    market,     she 
prayed   to  have  a  pair  of  trowsers ;  '  lest,'  said   she, 
'in   the     struggles   of  death,   I   should    expose    my 
nakedness  ;  and  some   water,  that  I  may  wash  and 
pray/     Whilst  she  was  washing  and  clothing  herself, 

t  2 


276  FATE  OF  THE  JEWISH   GIRL. 

the  executioner  waved  before  her  eyes  a  long  knife, 
but  she  would  not  look  on  it,  and  having  finished 
her  prayer,  she  offered  to  him  her  neck ;  but  he  cut 
with  the  edge  only,  '  for/  said  he,  '  when  she  sees  the 
blood  she  will  love  life  f  but  she  called  out  ( Your 
law  commands  you  to  kill,  but  not  to  torture  me/ 
And  on  that  word  he  struck  off  her  head  and  spat 
upon  it. 

"  The  Jews  of  Fez  obtained  the  body  on  the  pay- 
ment of  3000  dollars,  and  gathering  it  up  with 
the  blood  in  a  linen  sheet,  interred  it  with  great 
lamentation,  and  they  built  over  it  a  tomb  like  that 
of  a  saint,  and  those  who  are  afflicted  with  disorders 
go  to  pray  there,  and  are  cured."'* 

Compare  with  this,  the  story  in  Maccabees  of  the 
mother  and  seven  sons,  who  suffered  death  rather 
than  eat  forbidden  meat. 

*  The  name  given  to  the  girl  was  " Sol"  as  the  story  was  told 
me  in  Spanish.  It  is  the  habit  of  those  who  themselves  give 
descriptive  names,  to  translate  the  names  of  other  languages.  I 
have  therefore  restored  the  Hebrew  word  and  name,  in  which 
language  the  sun  is  feminine. 


THE   "HASSAN"   TOWER.  27' 


CHAPTER  II. 

RABAT. 

I  went  to-day  up  the  river  in  a  barge  belonging  to 
one  of  the  schooners  in  the  harbour.  We  landed  at 
the  bottom  of  the  harbour  to  visit  the  great  tower. 
It  is  about  seventy  feet  square,  and  under  two  hundred 
in  height,  but  was  never  finished.  The  facing  of  one 
of  the  angles  has  been  stripped  off  by  lightning,  show- 
ing the  interior  of  the  masonry,  which  is  composed 
throughout  of  stones  exactly  squared.  The  wall  at 
the  upper  part  is  between  six  and  seven  feet  thick. 
It  is  ascended  by  an  inclined  plane,  up  which  a  car- 
riage might  be  driven.  The  centre  is  an  inner  tower 
composed  of  five  stories  of  square  halls,  with  the  roofs 
in  stucco,  like  the  Alhambra.  The  outside  is  figured 
and  carved.  In  simplicity  and  grace,  "  Hassan  "  ex- 
ceeds the  Giralda  no  less  than  in  dimensions.  Who- 
ever has  seen  the  Giralda,  will  know  how  much  the 
name  enhances  the  charm  of  that  structure.  This 
personification,  which  to  us  is  an  abnormal  effort,  and 
belongs  to  an  ecstatic  state,  is  part  of  their  daily  life. 
We  may  be  poetic ;  they  are  poetry.  The  sword  of 
Antor,  the  sword  of  Amra  Ibn  Maad,*  the  horn  of 
*  Jamsamia. 


278  BUILDINGS  AT   RABAT 

Timour  had  each  its  name  ;  and  I  never  hear  a  bugle 
without  a  thrill,  having,  as  a  child,  delighted  in  the 
history  of  the  latter  hero.  Those  who  gave  a  man's 
name  to  a  tower,  would  be  horror-struck  at  a  man's 
name  given  to  a  dog.  The  tower  "  Hassan  "  calls  up 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem  and  Lower  Antonia.  There  all 
the  towers  had  names — Hippicus,  Piphunis,  Mariamne  : 
so  the  gates  had  names,  .as  Genuath ;  but  the  gates, 
like  those  of  Rabat,  were  probably  structures  exceed- 
ing the  towers  in  dimensions. 

The  staircase  has  been  rendered  impracticable  both 
at  the  entrance  and  near  the  top,  but  we  clambered 
up  by  the  aid  of  holes  in  the  walls.  We  could  now 
take  in  the  fortifications  of  Rabat.  The  whole  forms 
a  triangle,  the  sides  of  which  are  the  river  and  the  sea- 
coast;  the  apex  is  the  Cazata  on  the  point  of  Rabat. 
It  covers  a  space  of  ground  considerably  larger  than 
Granada. 

Adjoining  the  tower  there  is  a  large  cistern  with 
ten  parallel  walls  running  half  through  it,  and  beyond 
this,  the  extensive  area  of  a  mosque  with  many  of  the 
columns  standing.  They  are  of  granite,  unpolished. 
A  century  ago  a  missionary  mentions  the  mosque  as 
unroofed,  with  three  hundred  and  sixty  columns. 
This  group  of  buildings  is  surrounded  by  massive  walls 
in  Tapia  with  turrets. 

Wherever  elsewhere  are  found  monuments  of  past 
splendour,  the  race  has  disappeared,  or  it  lives  in 
subjection  to  some  other  people.  Here  the  de- 
scendants  of   the   people  who   reared   these   edifices, 


ERECTED   BY   CHRISTIAN    SLAVES.  279 

still  dwell  unconquered  around.  They  gaze  upon 
them  with  stupid  wonder,  knowing  not  whether  they 
are  the  works  of  genii  or  their  fathers. 

The  magnificent  remains  spread  around  were  the 
creation  of  a  single  reign,  and  had  one  date  of  matu- 
rity and  desolation.  What  measure  do  they  not  give 
of  the  power  of  Morocco,  in  the  time  of  our  Henry  I.? 
Like  the  pyramids,  they  were  reared  by  captive 
hands  ;  they  were  bedewed  with  Gothic  blood,  and 
Christian  sweat  and  tears.  To  forty  thousand  of  the 
Christian  slaves  employed  in  them,  the  Emperor  had 
promised  freedom  on  their  completion,  and  he  gave 
them  liberty  to  choose  a  district  for  their  habitation. 
His  ministers  represented  that  such  a  colony  would 
be  dangerous.  "My  word,"  said  the  Emir  el  Mos- 
lemin  (Miramolin)  "  is  passed  for  freedom,  and  what  is 
freedom  without  the  means  of  protecting  if?"  They 
were  settled  in  the  mountains  to  the  east  of  Fez. 
Wives  were  given  to  them,  and  they  were  called 
Shabanets,  from  Shaban,  the  name  of  the  month  in 
which  the  removal  took  place.  For  some  generations 
they  preserved  their  language  and  religion,  and  three 
hundred  years  afterwards  we  find  them  a  powerful 
tribe  at  war  with  the  Moorish  sovereign.  The  Sha- 
banets were  at  that  time  undistinguished  from  the 
surrounding  population  in  manners,  languages,  and 
religion.  There  is  no  trace  of  persecution  for  religion, 
and  their  contests  with  the  princes  of  Morocco  were 
for  their  civil  rights. 

That    war  of   borders   and    of    centuries    between 


280       TREATMENT  OF  CAPTIVES    IN   MOROCCO. 

Moor  and  Goth,  must  have  been,  in  part,  the  image 
of  the  kidnapping  of  Africa  as  carried  on  to-day. 
The  common  prisoner  for  us  is  an  encumbrance,  for 
them  he  was  the  chief  booty.  The  estimating  of  the 
value,  and  the  distribution  of  the  shares  amongst 
the  captors,  were  denned  and  arranged  by  a  peculiar 
code.  A  captive,  for  instance,  made  from  a  fortress 
within  cross-bow  range,  belonged  to  the  captor  on 
payment  of  a  fifth  of  the  value  to  the  king.  Beyond 
cross-bow  range  the  captor  received  a  third  of  the 
value  from  the  governor  who  got  the  slave. 

This  treatment  of  a  captive  shocks  our  sense  of 
military  honour,  and  so  the  lesson  which  war  ought 
to  teach  is  lost — that  each  is  answerable  in  his  per- 
son and  fortune  for  his  nation's  acts.  The  judicial 
and  sacred  character  of  war  remains  so  long  only  as 
the  captive  is  treated  as  a  guilty  man.  Our  civilization 
respects  in  the  prisoner  the  professional  man,  because 
it  has  converted  war  from  the  execution  of  a  sentence 
into  a  trade.  Riley  relates  a  conversation  with  some 
of  the  tribe  on  the  borders  of  the  Timbuctoo  desert. 
"  We  cannot,"  said  they,  in  answer  to  his  remon- 
strances, "  give  quarter,  because  they  ought  to  die  who 
give  us  cause  to  use  our  weapons.  We  will  not  take 
quarter  if  vanquished,  because  we  will  not  be  beholden 
for  life  to  such  men."  He  describes  the  tribe  as 
peculiarly  harmless. 

From  the  tower  we  proceeded  two  or  three  miles 
up  the  river  to  orange  groves  on  the  low  ground, 
belonging  to  the  late  governor,  which  appeared  utterly 


SPANISH    RENEGADES.  281 

deserted,  and  the  fruit  lay  rotting  under  the  trees. 
Our  European  sailors  loaded  their  boats  with  fruit,  and 
decorated  it  with  branches  bearing  fruit  and  flowers. 
I  fancied  the  companions  of  Hercules  must  have  done 
something  of  the  same  kind. 

We  found  here  a  party  of  the  Sultan's  troops,  who 
were  giving  and  receiving  a  treat  from  each  other. 
There  were  various  little  fires  and  round  trajs  of  tea : 
they  hailed  us  and  made  us  land,  and  we  had  to  drink 
tea  with  them.  There  was  a  nephew  of  the  Emperor 
amongst  them,  a  fine  lad,  almost  black,  with  beautiful 
Greek  features  approaching  to  that  Abyssinian  cast, 
some  individuals  of  which  have  appeared  to  me  to  be 
the  most  wonderful  specimens  of  the  human  race. 
Homer  was  of  the  same  opinion. 

Several  Spanish  renegades  were  pointed  out  to  me  : 
they  were  criminals  who  had  escaped  from  the  Spanish 
presidio.  The  Moors  spoke  of  them  without  con- 
tempt ;  the  Jews  told  me  they  were  much  esteemed. 
I  had  been  told  at  Ceuta  that  few  attempted  to  escape, 
and  that,  when  they  did,  they  came  back  again,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  bad  treatment  they  received.  The 
Spaniards  have  an  "  extradition "  treaty  with  the 
Moors,  but  here  that  modern  infamy  meets  its  reward 
— the  deserters  become  Mussulmans.  How  different  the 
present  practice  of  converting  the  fortresses  on  the 
frontier  into  depots  for  culprits,  from  that  ancient 
practice  of  the  Spanish  kings,  by  which  the  frontier 
fortresses  were  sanctuaries.  When  reading  those  old 
charters,  I  had  imagined  that  the  object  was  to  people 


282  RENEGADES   IN   MOROCCO. 

them,  and  such  is  the  explanation  given  by  the  Spanish 
legal  writers  ;  but  now  I  saw  the  real  purpose, — which 
was  to  afford  the  malefactor,  who  had  already  escaped 
from  punishment,  relief  from  apostacy.  The  male- 
factor was  sheltered  for  a  year  and  a  day,  and  was 
then  free.  He  would  have  been  kept  there  for  life, 
had  the  object  been  to  people  the  fortresses.  This  is 
further  confirmed  by  the  singular  privilege  of  these 
sanctuaries  to  receive  women  who  had  run  away  from 
their  husbands,  and  once  within  them  they  are  freed 
from  the  bonds  of  matrimony.  These  provisions  will 
be  found  in  the  Charter  of  Ferdinand  IV.,  granted 
to  Gibraltar,  and  afterwards  confirmed  by  Alonzo  XL 
From  the  benefits  of  the  sanctuary  were  excepted  only 
traitors — those  who  had  delivered  up  castles — those 
who  had  broken  the  king's  peace,  or  seduced  their 
lord's  wife. 

Thus  Moses  separated  three  cities  of  refuge  "  on 
this  side  Jordan  towards  the  sun's  rising  ; "  *  that 
is,  on  the  side  of  the  enemy  and  on  his  border.  The 
period  of  sojourn  was  contingent  on  the  life  of  the 
high-priest. 

Among  the  renegades  are  to  be  found  the  scourings 
from  all  regions  of  the  earth  ;  Spain,  France,  Russia, 
Belgium,  Prussia,  Turkey,  Tartary,  Egypt,  and  the 
whole  coast  of  Africa.  Nigritia  and  Central  Africa 
may  be  added  to  the  list ;  as  the  slaves  may  rather 
be  considered  outcasts  who  find  a  home,  than  free  men 
reduced  to  servitude.     Poles  they  have  here  in  Africa, 

*  Deut.  iv.  41—43. 


EMIGRANTS   FROM    ALGIERS.  283 

it  is  true  ;  but  as  "  condottieri "  only.  There  are 
representatives  of  every  race,  and  records  of  every 
conspiracy  and  rebellion.  They  number  four  hundred 
in  the  camp,  and  two  thousand  throughout  Morocco. 
The  police  is  so  strict,  that  it  is  impossible  that  one 
of  them  should  ever  return.  Dante  might  here  have 
got  the  suggestion  for  his  inscription  over  the  gates 
of  hell. 

There  were  formerly  a  great  many  emigrants  from 
Algiers.  They  have  died  and  wasted  away :  as  the 
French  colonization  has  advanced,  they  have  retreated 
before  it :  they  have  preferred  abandoning  the  graves 
of  their  fathers,  their  homes,  their  substance,  their 
friends,  to  living  where  the  Fih  ruled.  Such  an  emi- 
gration must  not  be  compared  to  that  of  Poland,  or 
to  the  victims  of  any  European  revolution.  There  was 
here  no  dread  of  vengeance  and  no  proscription.  They 
departed  in  anguish  of  heart,  and  Morocco  for  them 
was  no  land  of  promise.  Of  many  who  had  acknow- 
ledged themselves  as  Fih  subjects,  that  have  come  to 
Gibraltar  in  a  state  of  destitution,  not  one  has  ever 
applied  at  the  consulate  for  pecuniary  relief.  The 
Consul  has  repeatedly  proffered  assistance  ;  it  has 
in  every  case  been  declined.  This  getting  out  of  the 
way  of  their  conquerors  is  strikingly  pictured  in  the 
address  of  an  old  Moor  to  the  captor  of  Gibraltar  : — 

"Sire,— What  have  I  done  to  your  race?  I  lived 
in  Seville  when  your  great-grandfather,  the  King  Don 
Fernando,  besieged  and  took  that  place,  and  I  went 
to  Xeres.     Then  came  your  grandfather,  Don  Alonzo, 


284  CHRISTIAN   SLAVERY   IN    MOROCCO. 

and  conquered  Xerez,  and  I  went  to  live  at  Tarifa. 
Then  came  jour  father,  Don  Sancho,  and  took  Tarifa. 
Finding  that  we  could  not  live  in  any  city  of  Spain, 
I  came  to  Gibraltar  :  now  you  have  come  by  sea, 
besieged  and  taken  it.  I  beg  that  you  will  order  a 
vessel  for  me,  that  I  may  cross  the  sea,  and  not  see 
so  much  sorrow  before  my  eyes."  * 

Christian  slavery  in  Morocco,  and  the  intercourse 
resulting  from  it  with  the  princes  and  religious  orders 
of  Europe,  would  form  a  very  interesting  volume.  It 
ought  not,  however,  to  be  forgotten  that  the  Christians 
set  the  example,  f  In  Morocco  the  Rovers  were  no 
tractable  subjects.  Even  when  they  were  reduced  to 
obedience,  and  one  of  the  Sultans  applied  to  Charles 
XII.  for  aid  in  quelling  those  of  Tunis  and  Algiers,^ 

*  Ayala,  p.  1333. 

f  Al  Makbari,  passing  by  Malta,  exclaims,  "  That  accursed 
island,  from  the  neighbourhood  of  which  whoever  escapes  may 
well  say,  that  he  has  deserved  favour  ; — that  dreaded  spot,  which 
throws  its  deadly  shade  on  the  pleasant  waters  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean— that  den  of  iniquity  and  treason,  that  place  of  ambush, 
which  is  like  a  net  to  circumvent  the  Moslems  that  sail  the 
seas!" 

%  "  The  regal  power  allotted  to  us  makes  us  common  servants 
to  our  Creator ;  then  of  those  persons  whom  we  govern ;  so  that, 
observing  the  duties  we  owe  to  God,  we  distribute  blessings  to  the 
world.  In  providing  for  the  public  good  of  our  states,  we 
magnify  the  honour  of  God,  like  the  celestial  bodies,  which, 
though  they  have  much  honour,  yet  only  serve  for  the  benefit  of 
men.  It  is  the  excellence  of  our  office  to  be  instruments  whereby 
happiness  is  distributed  to  the  nations.  Pardon  me,  sir,  this  is 
not  to  instruct  ;  for  I  know  I  speak  to  one  of  a  more  clear  and 
quick  sight  than  myself;  but  I  speak  thus  because  God    hath 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  FROM  AFRICA.    285 

who  had  supported  the  fraternity  of  Salee  against 
himself,  these  princes,  who  would  not  recognize  the 
Sultans  of  Constantinople,  entered  into  friendly  re- 
lations with  the  Roman  Pontiff.  Even  on  religious 
matters,  the  following  extract  will  show,  and  will 
confirm,  what  I  have  elsewhere  asserted,  that  the  dis- 
appearance of  Christianity  from  the  soil  of  Africa 
is  not  attributable  to  persecution.  While  Henry,  the 
first  of  European  monarchs,  was  putting  himself  in 
open  opposition  to  the  Church,  and  setting  her  highest 
recognised  authority  at  defiance,  that  authority  re- 
ceived an  unexpected  recognition  and  homage  from  a 
Saracen  and  semi-barbarian  sovereign  in  Africa.  An- 
nazir,  the  Mahometan  ruler  of  Mauritania  Sitifensis, 
sent  to  Rome  a  Christian  priest,  Servandus  by  name, 
with  the  request  that  he  might  be  consecrated  bishop 
of  the  church  then  existing  at  Hippo.  Gregory's 
answer  to  this  prince  announced  his  compliance  with 
the  Saracen's  desire,  and  the  due  consecration  of  the 
designated  prelate.  He  thanked  Annazir  for  his 
liberation  of  many  Christians  in  his  kingdom  from 
slavery,  and  for  his  promised  manumission  of  more. 
"  This  goodness,"  he  said,  "  God  the  Creator  of  all 
things,  without  whom  we  cannot  do,  or  even  think 
anything  that  is  good,  hath  breathed  into  thine  heart. 
He  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world,    hath    in    this   thy    purpose    enlightened    thy 

been  pleased  to  grant  me  a  happy  victory  over  some  part  of  those 
rebellious  pirates  that  have  so  long  molested  the  peaceful  trade 
of  Europe." 


286  REDEMPTION  OF   CHRISTIAN   CAPTIVES 

mind,  for  there  is  nothing  of  which  the  Almighty 
God,  who  would  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  who 
is  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  more  highly 
approves  than  that,  next  to  the  love  of  his  Maker,  a 
man  should  cultivate  that  of  his  neighbour,  and  do 
nought  to  others  which  he  would  not  that  they  should 
do  to  him  ;  and  this  charity,  due  from  and  to  all  men, 
is  more  especially  required  between  you  and  ourselves  ; 
who  believe  and  confess,  though  in  a  different  way, 
one  God ;  and  who  both  daily  praise  and  adore  Him, 
as  the  Creator  of  all  ages,  and  the  governor  of  the 
world."  * 

If  religious  fanaticism  was  displayed  in  the  acts 
which  provoked  the  retaliation  of  the  Moors,  never 
was  Christian  charity  more  fervently  exhibited  than 
in  the  efforts  made,  and  the  suffering  undergone,  to 
redeem  the  captives.  For  this  work  of  redemption 
two  monastic  orders  were  established.  "The  Trini- 
tarians," was  founded  by  one  Matta,  and  by  Felix 
de  Valois,  in  1198.  Innocent  III.  confirmed  and  en- 
couraged the  institution.  It  was  a  mendicant  order. 
The  friars  wore  a  white  habit,  with  a  red  and  blue 
cross  on  the  breast.  The  rule  was  that  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, "  to  gather  and  carry  alms  into  Barbary  for  the 
redemption  of  slaves,"  to  which  purpose  one-third 
of  the  revenue  of  each  house  was  to  be  applied. 
They  had  thirty-nine  houses  in  England,  and  nine 
in  Scotland. 

The  "Merced,"  or  more  properly  the  military  re- 

*  Bowden's  Life  of  Gregory  VII.,  ii.  158. 


BY   TWO   MONASTIC  ORDERS.  287 

ligious  order  of  "  Our  Lady  of  Mercy  for  the  Redemp- 
tion of  Captives,"  was  founded  in  1225  by  Peter  of 
Masco,  who  had  served  under  De  Montfort.  It  con- 
sisted of  knights  and  friars.  The  friars  were  in  holy 
orders,  and  therefore  could  not  shed  blood.  The 
knights  guarded  the  coast  against  the  Saracens,  but 
were  obliged  to  keep  choir  when  not  on  duty.  The 
friars  wore  a  white  habit  :  the  knights  were  dressed 
like  seculars,  but  wore  a  white  scapular  on  which, 
as  on  the  habits  of  the  friars,  were  embroidered  the 
royal  arms  of  Arragon.  To  the  three  religious  vows 
this  order  added  a  fourth, — to  devote  their  whole  sub- 
stance, and  their  liberty,  if  necessary,  to  the  ransoming 
of  slaves  ;  remaining  in  the  place  of  a  slave  if  they 
could  not  otherwise  obtain  his  release.  This  order 
being  relieved  from  certain  domestic  austerities,  they 
were  obliged  to  go  barefoot,  and  were  called  Das 
Calsos,*  observing  the  strictest  poverty,  solitude,  and 
abstinence. 

In  former  times  there  was  in  these  regions  a  most 
extraordinary  traffic  in  Russian  slaves  of  both  sexes, 
and  eunuchs.  The  Arabs  called  them  Siklah  (Silaavo). 
Abderachman  III.  had  a  body  guard  of  them,  splendidly 
accoutred.  They  rose  to  high  offices  in  the  State. 
One,  named  Wadha,  was  vizier  to  Hisham  II.  of  Cor- 
dova ;  another,  Naga,  to  Ibn  Edris,  Sultan  of  Ceuta, 
and  Malaga.  They  even  attained  to  sovereign  power, 
and  founded  dynasties,  as  Lahayr  and  Keyran,  both 
of  Valentia. 

*  See  Mahomedan  Dynasties  of  Spain,  pp.  74 — 381 . 


288  PROCESSION   OF   THE   SULTAN 

5th  of  December. 
This  being  Friday,  the  Sultan  went  in  state  to  the 
mosque  at  the  Alcazar.  He  passed  between  two  lines 
of  troops  from  his  country  box,  a  distance  of  three 
miles.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  him  from  the 
roof  of  the  consulate,  as  he  passed  along  the  brow 
of  the  hill  to  the  Alcazar  gate.  He  rode  a  white 
horse.  When  he  came  in  sight  there  was  a  general 
exclamation  from  those  on  the  roofs.  "  A  white 
horse !"  They  all  turned  round  and  smiled,  and  beckoned 
to  each  other,  and  general  joy  seemed  to  be  diffused. 
The  Sultan  rides  a  white  horse !  The  colour  of  the 
horse  denotes  the  humour  of  the  prince  ;  white  being, 
of  course,  that  of  joy  and  gladness,  and  the  other 
shades  accordingly.  Muley  Ismael  distinguished  thus  : 
— when  he  rode  a  red  horse,  he  had  a  lance  or  sabre  ; 
when  he  rode  a  black  one,  a  musket  and  gunpowder. 
In  the  Arabian  Nights  there  is  something  like  this,"5" 
in  commenting  on  which  Mr.  Lane  mentions  (and  I 
can  also  confirm),  that  the  Turks  signify  anger  against 
any  class  of  their  tributaries  by  issuing  the  Harutch 
papers  of  a  red  colour,  and  adds,  "To  exhibit  the 
striking    and    dramatic    spectacle    described    by   our 

*  "  Now  when  the  morning  came,  the  Khaleefeh  went  into 
the  saloon  (his  sitting-room),  and  found  the  eunuchs  stupified 
with  benj.  So  he  awoke  them,  and,  putting  his  hand  upon  the 
chair,  he  found  not  the  suit  of  apparel,  nor  the  signet,  nor  the 
rosary,  nor  the  dagger,  nor  the  handkerchief,  nor  the  lamp  ; 
whereupon  he  was  violently  enraged,  and  put  on  the  apparel  of 
anger,  which  was  a  suit  of  Red,  and  seated  himself  in  the  council- 
chamber." 


TO   THE  MOSQUE.  289 

author  may,  I  conceive,  be  more  effective  than  any 
words  could  be."  In  this  way  the  black  flag  of  the 
pirate  has  been  selected,  and  the  red  flag  of  the  rover. 
Next  to  the  flag  the  war-horse  is  the  shield  for  this 
blazon.  Thus  we  have  in  the  Revelation  the  pale 
horse  of  death.  The  idea  is  beautifully  paraphrased 
in  a  sentence  of  the  old  Chevalier  Fabian  Phillips. 
"  The  pale  horse  of  death,  and  the  red  of  destruction, 
rode  up  to  their  bridles  in  blood." 

The  Sultan  wore  a  green  bournous  with  the  hood 
up.  A  man  on  each  side  fanned  him.  This  hooded 
people  had  thrown  back  the  capes  of  their  sulams 
and  the  folds  of  the  ha'ik  from  off  their  heads,  so 
that  the  aspect  of  the  crowd  was  suddenly  changed, 
and  the  universal  white  was  now  considerably  mingled 
with  red  and  blue.* 

I  was  much  gratified  at  seeing,  even  from  a  dis- 
tance, the  chief  of  this  singular  empire,  the  manner 
of  his  march,  and  the  greeting  of  his  people,  which 
is  by  bending  down  and  raising  up  the  body,  and 
continuing  to  do  so  until  he  has  passed. 

I  received  a  message  to  say,  that  orders  had  been 
given  to  conduct  me  over  every  place,  not  excepting 
his  own  residence.  This  was  a  most  acceptable  com- 
munication, as  I  found  myself  gradually  falling  into 
the  condition  of  a  prisoner. 

*  So  in  Spain,  the  men  on  entering  the  church  drop  the  cloak 
from  the  shoulder,  and  likewise  when  speaking  to  a  superior. 
In  Southern  Africa  they  bare  the  upper  part  of  the  body.  The 
Abyssinian,  as  a  sign  of  respect,  throws  off  his  clothing  to  the 
waist. — See  the  captives  on  Egyptian  monuments. 

VOL.  I.  U 


290  THE    BAIRAM. 

After  the  ceremony  of  the  mosque  was  over,  seve- 
ral of  the  chief  men  came  in.  These  visits  were 
uninterrupted  till  night.  I  have  seldom  passed  so 
interesting  a  day. 

The  revolution  in  the  town,  I  suspect,  is  not  yet 
completed.  The  Sultan  has  been  now  a  month  here. 
He  never  remained  so  long  before,  and  this  is  a 
season  of  the  year  when  it  has  been  the  undeviating 
practice  of  Moorish  Sultans  to  be  at  the  capital. 
The  Bairam  approaches ;  on  the  day  after  which,  the 
list  of  functionaries  for  the  ensuing  year  is  published. 
The  changes  are  then  made.  Then  comes  the  reckon- 
ing between  the  Sultan  and  his  servants.  The  chiefs 
are  assembled,  with  their  retainers,  from  all  parts  of 
the  empire,  so  that  he  has  the  opportunity  and  the 
means  of  taking  vengeance.  The  forms  of  a  placitium 
prevail,  and  there  may  be  points  of  real,  as  well 
as  traces  of  apparent,  resemblance  between  a  divan 
of  a  Moorish  Sultan,  and  the  Wittenagemotte  of  a 
Saxon  King.  The  Sultan  publicly  alleges  his  charges 
against  the  governors  who  are  removed,  and  the  peo- 
ple on  their  part  have  free  access,  and  can  accuse 
and  petition. 

The  holding  of  the  Bairam  here,  and  not  at  Fez 
or  Morocco,  seems  to  be  a  case  of  Mahomet  coming 
to  the  mountain.  It  is  not  a  rebellious  governor,  but 
a  refractory  town.  Rabat  has  the  reputation  of  stub- 
bornness. This  perhaps  renders  it  more  difficult  and 
dangerous  for  the  Sultan  to  overlook  the  recent  events, 
while  it  imposes  on  him  the  necessity  of  taking  his 


MASSACRE   OF   A   CAID.  291 

measures  with  precaution.  Without  exciting  alarm, 
or  at  least  justifying  measures  of  resistance,  or  even 
of  precaution,  he  collects  50,000  men  round  the 
town. 

One  of  my  visitors  this  day  was  Mike  Brittel.  If 
I  am  to  judge  by  his  words  or  his  air,  never  was  city 
in  the  enjoyment  of  profounder  repose,  or  man  of 
more  perfect  felicity. 

In  the  time  of  the  late  Emperor,  Muley  Mahomet, 
they  killed  and  quartered  their  Caid,  and  made  the 
Jew  butchers  hang  up  the  flesh  in  the  shambles.  It 
was  so  exposed  for  three  days,  ticketed  at  two  blan- 
quillos  a  pound.  Then  they  came  in  troops  to 
cheapen  it,  and  haggle  with  the  Jews  who  were  in- 
structed to  maintain  the  two  blanquillos.  The  Sultan 
marched  against  the  city,  but  the  people  withdrew 
into  the  Alcazaba,  and  presented  so  imposing  a  front 
that  he  was  content  with  an  accommodation. 

Civilized  and  philosophical  Germany  can  riddle  the 
body  of  a  minister ;  but  let  us  not  compare  such  an 
act  with  the  shambles  of  Eabat.  The  one  is  the 
frenzy  of  a  people  which  cannot  help  itself ;  the  other 
is  vengeance — savage,  if  you  like — but  vengeance  for 
crimes,  applying  a  salutary  lesson  to  those  who  are  to 
follow.  Such  is  the  difference  between  the  two  con- 
ditions of  existence.  No  reactions  and  no  vengeance 
can  profit  where  social  evil  springs  from  theory 
and  legislation.  Where  the  evil  is  the  act  of  man, 
vengeance  comes,  like  the  storm,  to  clear  the  atmo- 
sphere, thus  compensating  for  the  ruin  it  has  wrought. 

u  2 


292       THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EL  GARB. 

I  met  at  a  house  where  I  was  visiting  to-day,  the 
governor  of  El  Garb,  whose  encampment  lies  opposite 
our  windows.  I  was  told  that  he  is  chief  of  two 
millions  of  souls.  His  rule  extends  from  the  river 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  Tangier.  There  was  nothing 
in  his  outward  appearance  to  distinguish  him  from 
any  other  Moor  :  he  went  away  unceremoniously, 
followed  by  a  single  attendant.  The  master  of  the 
house  served  me  with  coffee  himself,  and  fancying 
that  I  liked  milk,  went  down  to  the  kitchen  and 
brought  up  in  his  hands  a  basin  of  curds.  Coffee  is 
not  in  use,  but  it  was  especially  prepared  for  me 
as  a  Turkish  compliment.  The  coffee  about  which 
the  French  papers  made  so  merry,  as  finding  it  all 
ready  at  Isly,  was  no  proof  that  Marshal  Bugeaud  was 
unexpected,  but  the  reverse. 

The  sellers  of  water  use  a  little  bell,  which  carries 
us  back  to  Canaan.  The  Jews  had  bells  to  their 
garments;  bells  are  still  used  in  their  synagogues, 
and  ring  every  time  the  Bible  is  produced.  The  bells 
of  the  Etruscans  were  nob  to  the  Roman  taste.  Bells 
did  not  pass  with  Christianity  from  Judaea  through 
Greece  to  Europe.  In  Greece  they  are  not  in  common 
use,  and  wherever  they  are  found,  are  a  modern 
innovation.  In  all  the  primitive  districts,  a  bar 
of  metal,  or  a  sounding  board,  supplies  their  place ; 
and  a  small  one  is  beaten  by  the  hand  through  the 
streets,  before  matins  and  vespers.  The  Spaniards 
have  bells  to  their  churches ;  but  not,  as  the  mode 
of  ringing  them  shows,  derived  from  us.     They  strike 


BELLS  AND  BARBARY  CAPS.        293 

them  with  the  tongue,  just  as  the  Greeks  do  their  sound- 
ing board  with  the  hammer,  and  a  peal  from  the  bells 
of  a  Spanish  town  recalls  a  manufactory  of  steam- 
boilers,  and  a  street  of  coppersmiths.  There  is  no 
indication  of  bells  amongst  the  Arabs,  nor  in  any 
other  ancient  country  :  they  belong  to  the  Jews  and 
Etruscans. 

Barbary  has  furnished  with  caps  the  Western  World. 
From  the  Atlantic  to  the  frontiers  of  Persia,  a  cap  is 
known  by  no  other  name  than  Fez.  In  Europe  it  goes 
by  the  name  of  Tunis  (Bonnet  de  Tunis),  in  Morocco 
it  is  called  Shashia.  It  is  pointed  like  a  sugar-loaf, 
with  a  small  blue  tuft  at  the  top.  Throughout  the 
East  it  is  worn  under  the  turban.  In  Constantinople, 
now  that  they  have  dropped  the  turban,  they  wear  it 
large  and  full ;  but  the  Shashia  of  Barbary  is  precisely 
that  worn  by  the  Flamens  of  Rome.  With  the  slightest 
modification — and  a  modification  which  is  not  at  pre- 
sent unknown  here — it  becomes  the  Phrygian  cap. 
Phoenicia  being  the  link  between  Phrygia*  and  Bar- 
bary, the  cap  and  its  colour  would  seem  to  belong  to 
Tyre.  It  is  singular  that  to  the  Easterns  our  head- 
dress should  be  the  symbol  of  license,  while  theirs  to 
us  is  the  emblem  of  liberty  ;  and  still  more  so  to  find 
that  both  have  come  from  a  people  who  are  the  type 

#  The  Phrygians  were,  I  imagine,  of  the  same  race.  They 
were  also  called  Brebers,  and  thence  the  Greek  word  barbarians, 
which  originally  was  no  word  of  reproach,  but  designated  that 
other  people  of  Asia  Minor  (Phrygians,  Mysians,  Lydians,  &c), 
whom  we  are  now  beginning  to  know  in  the  marbles  of  Xanthus. 


294      BARBARY  CUSTOM   FOR  THE   UNMARRIED 

of  barbarism  ;  for  Barbary  has  given  hats  to  the 
women  as  well  as  caps  to  the  men.  These  hats  are 
made  of  straw,  like  Leghorn  bonnets,  and  with  little 
tufts  of  many-coloured  silks  :  thence,  probably,  the 
metaphor  of  women  being  crowns  of  glory  to  their 
husbands. 

They  have  another  usage  which  renders  it  more 
complete  and  distinct.  When  I  was  first  at  Tetuan 
I  met  a  brother  of  the  Caid,  who  subsequently  was 
ambassador  at  Paris.  His  haik  was  over  his  head, 
but  he  threw  it  off,  and  then  came  out  a  bald  pate. 
Being  the  first  time  that  I  had  seen  a  shaved  head 
in  public, — I  was  very  much  astonished,  and  inquired 
into  the  reason,  and  it  was  told  me  that  he  was  not 
married*  and  in  Barbary,  is  not  permitted  to  put  on 
a  cap  till  then.  In  the  Sock  at  this  place,  I  had 
subsequently  seen  men  from  the  interior  with  bald 
heads,  and  a  rope  of  earners  hair  round  them.  It  is 
remarkable  and  picturesque,  and  suggests  the  idea  of 
the  crown  of  thorns.  It  did  not  at  the  time  occur  to 
me,  that  the  rope  or  band  round  the  head, — for  I 
have  afterwards  seen  it  a  band  of  platted  palmetto  leaf 

*  "  The  young  men,"  says  Marmol,  writing  in  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  "  shave  the  head  and  beard  until  they  are 
married,  when  they  allow  the  beard  to  grow,  and  the  tuft  of  hair 
on  the  crown  of  the  head." — Africa,  vol.  ii.  p.  3. 

"  Men  of  all  ranks  and  conditions,"  says  a  writer  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  century,  "  are  obliged  to  wear  caps  after  they  are 
married ;  and  till  then  all  their  youths,  even  the  king's  sons 
themselves,  commonly  go  bareheaded.  They  wear  no  hair  under 
their  red  caps  (but  are  close  shaved),  except  a  lock  upon  the  top 
of  their  heads." — An  Account  of  Barbary,  p.  42. 


COMPARED  WITH  THE  HIGHLAND  USAGE.      295 

— was  the  distinctive  sign  of  the  single,  as  the  cap 
was  of  the  married,  so  that  I  cannot  affirm  it  to  be  so  : 
the  usage  may  now,  indeed,  have  worn  out.  At  all 
events,  it  is  singular  to  find  here  the  fillet  round  the 
bare  head,  and  the  cap  only  worn  after  marriage, 
while  in  the  Highlands,  there  is  the  snood,  or  fillet,  for 
the  unmarried  girls,  and  the  cap,  or  much  for  the 
married  woman.  The  Gaelic  name  for  the  cap,  is 
properly  carachd  (cruch),  but  much  is  common  north 
and  south  :  now  much  is  a  Hebrew  word  applying  to 
some  soft  and  delicate  but  unknown  substance.*  It 
is  supposed  to  mean  silk  ;  the  snood  has  always  the 
epithet  of  "silken/'*  and  a  peculiar  silken  kerchief 
completes  the  head-dress  of  the  Jewesses  of  Barbary. 
The  name  for  the  stuff  has  therefore  been  given  to  the 
dress  when  adopted  by  the  Galatean  women  in  India, 
just  as  the  name  of  the  dress  in  the  case  of  cotton,f 
has  been  transferred  to  the  substance. 

In  Solomon's  Song  it  appears  that  the  practice  of 
the  Jews  was  for  the  mother  to  crown  the  son  on  his 
marriage-day  ;  but  the  word  which  we  translate  crown, 
conveys  also  the  idea  of  covering  the  head,  or  putting 
a  cap  upon  it.  That  some  similar  usage  must  have 
prevailed  in  ancient  Greece,  or  some  rite  been  intro- 
duced amongst  the  Greeks  with  Christianity,  is  shown 
in   the   expressions   at   present   in   use.      Instead  of 

*  "  Baal  Aruc  ^131  1^21  TD  Much  Hebraice  et  vernaculo 
sermone  Bambace.  12  in  materia  vestium  est  mollior  omnia 
lanee  "Unique  etgossifii  lanugo." — Boohart,  Chan.  lib.  i.  ch.45. 

t  r\^rO  (Gen.  xxxvii.  3),  whence  xirwv.  Gaelic,  coot,  from 
which  the  English  coat,  which  never  is  of  cotton. 


296      CONNECTION  OF  THE   FILLET  AND  SNOOD. 

saying  "  He   married   such   a   one,"   they   say,    "  He 
crowned  such  a  one/' 

In  Servia  the  bride  wears  a  crown,  or  rather,  a  cap 
of  flowers,  and  she  preserves  it — not  the  same  flowers, 
— for  a  whole  year. 

The  connection  of  the  fillet  and  the  snood,  is  ren- 
dered more  probable  by  that  of  the  Shashia  and  the 
Highland  bonnet.  These  are  the  two  kinds,  the  flat, 
(liena)  and  the  point  (viruch).  The  latter  has  been 
nicknamed  "Glengarry."  It  owes  its  peculiarity  to 
the  slit ;  something  very  like  it  may  be  seen  in  the 
tombs  of  Egypt.  The  flat  one  has  now  generally  got 
the  addition  of  a  chequered  border,  but  that  varia- 
tion was  introduced  by  the  Regent  Murray.  It  is, 
however,  still  worn  without  the  border,  and  then  it 
is  a  variety  of  the  Shashia.  It  has  preserved  the 
two  original  colours,  though  it  has  exchanged  them, 
the  bonnet  being  blue,  and  the  tassel  red.  Amongst 
the  Basques  it  may  be  still  seen  red  with  a  tassel 
blue. 

On  my  return  home,  I  found  the  colonel  of  the 
regular  troops,  who  had  come  to  pay  me  a  visit. 
He  was  pacing  the  cancellaria  ;  he  was  smoking  a 
cigar,  and  he  was  spitting  on  the  floor: — I  recoiled 
from  the  triple  abomination.  I  am  perfectly  aware 
that  an  Englishman  will  see  nothing  extraordinary 
in  the  former  two,  as  they  would  not  be  so  in  himself, 
nor  an  American  in  the  third.  I  supposed  he  must 
be  a  renegade,  but  he  was  only  an  Algerian  who  had 
lived  some  time  at  Gibraltar.     Having  served  at  Con- 


CHANGE  OF  THE  MOORISH  UNIFORM.    297 

stantinople,  he  opened  at  once  his  heart  to  me,  and 
poured  forth  complaints  against  the  Moors.  No  one 
had  shown  him  civility,  and  he  could  not  even  get 
a  bath  (there  are  no  public  ones).  This  unburden- 
ing of  his  mind  was  followed  by  a  flow  of  spirits  : 
he  sent  for  his  uniform,  displayed  it,  dressed  in  it, 
and  then  sate  down  to  dinner.  While  seated  on  a 
chair  at  a  table,  with  a  tumbler  of  wine  in  his 
raised  hand,  in  walked  two  attendants  of  Mustafa 
Ducaly,  bearing  the  usual  dish  or  tray  of  kuscoussoo. 
He  was  struck  mute  and  motionless ;  the  untouched 
goblet  was  replaced  on  the  table,  and  presently  he 
arose  and  withdrew. 

The    uniform   which    is    to    displace    this  ancient 
and  magnificent    costume,  is   a    caricature  of  us,  as 
much  as  a  scandal  to  the  Moors  ;   yet  it  is  paraded 
as  a  necessary  condition  of  learning  the  use  of  arms. 
In  the  last  century,  the  Spanish  army,  indignant  at 
the  introduction  of  the  Prussian  discipline,  exclaimed, 
"With  the  old  tactics  we   raised  Charles  V.  to   the 
throne  of  Germany,  and  Philip  V.  to  that  of  Spain  ; 
we  put  Don  Carlos  on  the  throne  of  Naples,  and  con- 
quered  Parma  and  Oran  :"  no   doubt   the  argument 
was  inconclusive.     But  to  tell  the  Saracens  that  their 
costume  is  unfit  for  military  purposes,  was  reserved 
for  the    genius    of    the   nineteenth    century.     Shoe- 
strings at  Versailles  announced   that    the  revolution 
was  accomplished ;  a  neckcloth  sealed  the  fate  of  the 
khans  of  the  Crimea  ;  so  button-holes  at  Rabat  seem 
to  presage,  not  that    a  barrier  is  raised  in  Morocco 


298  UNIFORM   OF   MEHEMET  ALL 

to  the  French,  but  that  the  sceptre  of  the  Sheriffs 
is  passing  away. 

Mehemet  Ali's  uniform  at  least  followed,  while  it 
disfigured,  the  dress  in  use.  This  one  is  a  complete 
change  ;  the  bare  leg,  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  Moor, 
has  disappeared.  The  cap,  their  own  original  shashia, — 
the  peaked  cap  of  liberty, — is,  for  "  fashion's  sake/' 
changed  to  the  round  shallow  one  of  Egypt ;  cuffs 
and  collars,  the  gracefulness  of  which  so  struck  Napo- 
leon, when  he  saw  Eastern  clothing,  are  the  salient 
features  of  this  tailoring  invasion  ;  which,  after  deso- 
lating Spain,  has  now  fallen  upon  Morocco.  Tertul- 
lian,  in  his  letter  on  the  "  Toga  and  the  Pallium/' 
ridicules  the  Africans  of  his  day,  for  copying  from 
Italy  a  dress  which  the  ancestors  of  those  Italians 
had  borrowed  from  their  own :  what  would  he  have 
said  now? 

The  new  uniform  was  of  course  of  all  sorts  of 
tints  and  colours,  from  chocolate  to  pink. 


THE   CAZABA.  299 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   JEWS    AND   JEWRY    IN    RABAT. 

December  7th. 

The  Cazaba,  the  fortress  with  the  beautiful  gate,  has 
a  separate  government,  and  is  inhabited  by  a  distinct 
people  ;  a  remnant  of  a  tribe,  the  Oudaiah,  which,  on 
the  failure  of  the  plans  of  the  Sultan  against  Clemcen, 
in  1832,  was  sacrificed  to  the  public  indignation — 
against  himself.  They  furnish  an  instance  of  the 
tenacity  with  which  these  races,  or  rather  families, 
cling  to  life.  The  shred  of  the  broken  tribe  settled 
in  these  ruins  has  still  friends,  as  they  told  me,  but 
a  long  way  off,  in  the  desert  beyond  Timbuctoo. 
After  the  revolution  of  Rabat,  they  were  seized  by 
the  like  fancy,  when  their  Cald,  apprehending  mischief, 
took  sanctuary  in  the  tomb  of  a  saint.  The  Sultan, 
Spartan-like,  would  not  violate  it,  but  converted 
it  into  a  prison.  Prisons,  without  doors  or  guards, 
were  to  be  seen,  in  the  time  of  Muley  Ismael ;  it  being 
customary  with  him  to  order  a  culprit  to  gaol,  as  with 
us  an  officer  is  put  under  arrest. 

The  beautiful  quarter  of  the  Cazaba  had  been 
offered  to  the  Jews,  but  refused,  for  fear  of  exposure 
in  case  of  war.     They  selected  the  eastern  angle  of 


300  THE   JEWRY  IN   RABAT. 

the  town  nearest  to  the  great  tower,  for  the  Jewry, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  any  thing  more  filthy. 
The  narrow  passages  between  the  houses  are  divided 
into  heaps  of  dung,  and  holes  of  rats.  The  first 
house  I  visited  contained  no  less  than  fifty  souls.  It 
was  a  hollow  square  with  columns,  and  bright  colours, 
and  mosaics ;  with  fragments  of  Gothic  fret-work  and 
corridors ;  and  so  small  and  neat,  and  so  densely 
peopled  with  heads  stuck  out  from  every  pigeon-hole 
above,  below,  and  around,  that  it  was  like  a  toy-shop 
or  a  piece  of  mechanism  brought  on  the  stage,  or  a 
little  gem  theatre  of  itself.  I  defy  the  most  active  and 
pains -taking  imagination  to  picture  to  itself  a  Moorish 
house  ;  it  is  quite  impossible  to  describe  it,  yet  equally 
so  to  resist  makiog  the  attempt :  I  will,  however,  await 
a  more  fit  occasion,  or  a  more  congenial  humour. 

From  the  roof  (for  like  that  of  Rahab  at  Jericho, 
it  was  built  on  the  city  wall)  we  had  a  good  view 
of  the  tower.  On  my  expressing  a  desire  to  go  to 
it,  they  uttered  exclamation  on  exclamation,  and 
could  not  have  been  more  dismayed,  had  I  proposed 
to  them  to  wade  to  the  dreaded  bar.  They  told  me 
that  a  Jew,  if  he  ventured  into  the  grounds  below, 
would  be  shot  like  a  duck  or  a  dog,  and  that  a  Chris- 
tian would  fare  no  better.  There  are  nineteen  places 
of,  or  rather  rooms  for,  worship.  They  do  not  use  the 
word  synagogue ; — they  say,  Beth-el-Elim,  House  of 
Knowledge.  This  carries  these  settlements  to  a  period 
antecedent  to  the  Greek  rule,  when  the  term  synagogue 
was  introduced. 


i 


GOVERNMENT   OF  THE   JEWS.  301 

They  are  governed  by  a  Gistar*  or  council  of 
twelve  elders.  The  sheikh  collects  the  taxes;  and 
for  this  purpose  is  aided  by  two  Moorish  soldiers : 
he  sends  the  refractory  to  the  public  prison.  In 
every  Mussulman  country  which  I  have  hitherto  vi- 
sited, the  chiefs  of  tribes  are  themselves  responsible 
to  the  goab,  and  are  imprisoned  in  case  of  default : 
the  people  then  pay  to  save  them.  Amongst  the 
Brebers  the  Jews  wear  arms,  and  dress  like  the  rest : 
a  Jew  going  there  will  not  be  able  to  distinguish  his 
co-religionists  from  the  Mussulman.  Each  has  his 
patron,  who  resents  an  injury  done  to  his  Jew  as  if 
done  to  himself.  So  recently  as  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  there  was  a  Jew  prince  in  the 
mountains  of  Ref.f  An  old  Jew  gravely  assured  me 
that  the  river  Sabation  was  near  Tunis. 

The  difference  of  their  treatment  by  the  Moors 
may  partly  be  the  result  of  their  own  manners  :  it 

*  At  Tangier  the  body  of  elders  is  called  Mahamad ;  the 
members  composing  it,  Yebedeems, 

President,  Parnaas, 
Reader,      Haezan, 
Treasurer,  Gisbar, 
Sacristan,  Saamus, 
Deean  (Judge). 

t  "  Muley  Arshid  proceeded  to  a  district  called  '  The  Mountain 
of  the  Jew,'  because  a  Jew  governed  there,  and  because  the 
Brebers,  whom  he  subjected  to  the  law,  respected  him  as  their 
sovereign.  After  spreading  terror  through  the  country,  he 
massacred  the  Jew  as  unworthy  of  commanding  Mahometans, 
seized  on  his  wealth,  and  rewarded  his  troops."—  Ciienier,  vol.  ii 
p.  122. 


302  JEWISH  COMPARED   WITH 

could  not  be  of  ancient  date.  The  Jews  invited 
the  Moors  over  to  Spain.  On  the  growth  of  Gothic 
power,  the  Jews  and  Moors  were  treated  as  one  peo- 
ple :  they  were  persecuted  and  expelled  together. 
They  found  refuge  in  Barbary,  and  preferred  it  to  any 
other  country. 

The  Jewish  ablutions  consist  in  washing  the  hands 
and  face.  The  water  is  poured  from  a  jug  ;  the  left 
hand  performs  the  service  to  the  right  as  the  most 
honourable,  then  the  right  does  the  same  to  the  left. 
So  far  it  is  the  same  as  the  Mussulman  abdest,  only 
it  does  not  extend  to  the  feet,  and  is  performed  three 
times  a  day,  while  the  Mussulman  repeats  it  five 
times.  Soap  is  not  used  in  the  religious  ablution 
of  either ;  but  the  Mussulman  washes  with  soap,  or 
gayule,  in  the  morning,  and  before  and  after  each  of 
his  two  meals.  The  Jew  has  to  wash  all  his  body 
on  Fridays,  but  without  soap  :  this  is  no  offset  to  the 
weekly  bath  of  the  Mussulman,  established  by  custom 
though  not  enjoined  by  law,  and  repeated  besides 
upon  other  occasions. 

They  have  to  take  off  their  shoes  in  passing  a 
mosque,  which  is  not  without  its  influence  on  their 
apartments.  No  traveller  in  the  East  can  have  failed 
to  remark  the  establishments  attached  to  the  mosque 
for  purification,  &c,  or  the  cleanliness  and  peculiari- 
ties of  the  corresponding  parts  of  private  houses.  In 
washing,  the  Mussulmans  use  only  the  left  hand,  and 
reserve  the  right  pure  for  eating.  The  Spaniard,  Ali 
Bey,  lost  his  life  by  breaking  this  rule  :  master  as  he 


MUSSULMAN   ABLUTIONS.  303 

was  of  the  language  and  the  religious  ceremonies,  his 
corns  led  to  suspicion  of  his  origin.  He  was  watched, 
and,  being  observed  to  use  his  right  hand  in  washing, 
when  a  Mussulman  would  not  have  used  it,  he  was  at 
once  proved  to  be  an  impostor  feigning  Islamism,  and 
shot.  I  was  informed  that  the  Jews  are  not  more  parti- 
cular, and  for  the  portions  of  the  house  where  water  is 
constantly  splashing  about,  they  do  not  use  wooden 
pattens.*  The  relative  position  of  two  races  living 
intermixed,  cannot  fail  to  be  influenced  by  their  rela- 
tive cleanliness  ;  and  the  contempt  in  which  the  Jews 
are  held  in  the  towns  must,  in  part  at  least,  be  owing 
to  this  cause. 

The  Jews  of  Barbary  look  down  upon  the  Jews 
of  Christendom,  f  whom  they  call  Ers  Edom.  A 
rabbi,  referring  to  the  conversion  of  the  rich,  said, 
"  "We  have  only  to  undergo  the  temptations  of  poverty 
and  danger — they  have  to  endure  those  of  ease  and 
wealth." 

They  tax  themselves  for  the  Holy  Land  to  the 
amount  of  one  half  their  tax  to  the  Moorish  Govern- 
ment.    I  saw  one  of  the  collectors  from  Jerusalem, 

*  In  the  towns  of  Morocco  a  primitive  mode  of  trapping  is  in 
use,  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  the  effluvia  from  drains  and  cess- 
pools. The  orifice  is  small,  and  a  stone  is  fitted  to  it,  and  slip- 
ped off  and  on.  It  is  the  closest  application  in  a  city  of  the 
injunction  of  Deuteronomy  xxiii.  12, 13,  which  the  Moors  rigidly 
follow,  when  they  are  in  the  country. 

t  Country  of  the  Erse,  that  is,  the  Celts.  Erse,  however,  like 
Scot,  is  peculiar  to  the  clans.  I  shall  revert  to  this  term  in 
tracing  their  wanderings. 


304  TAXATION  OF   JEWS   IN   MOROCCO. 

who  told  me  that  their  people  in  Morocco  amounted 
to  one  million.* 

The  Jews  are  the  only  portion  of  the  people  not, 
therefore,  subject  to  the  haratch,  or  poll-tax  :  they 
do  not  pay  it.  This  fact  entirely  confirms  what  I 
have  said  respecting  the  original  conquest.  The  tax 
now  paid  by  the  Jews  is  of  modern  introduction  ;f 
formerly,  they  presented  to  the  Sovereign  a  golden 
hen  with  twelve  chickens  in  enamelled  work,  and  this 
was  their  quit-rent.  At  Tunis  and  Tripoli  they  do 
so  still.  The  vexations  to  which  they  are  subject 
are  of  this  nature  : — A  son  of  the  Sultan  being  resi- 
dent here,  and  for  a  time  really  the  governor,  sent 
to  them  a  young  lion  to  keep,  directing  that  a  certain 

*  Rating  by  the  taxes  they  pay,  the  town  population  is  only 

74,000.  DUCATS. 

Rabat,  population  4000 1000 

Salee 500 

Tangier   1000 

Tetuan    3000 

Fez 5000 

Mequinez 3000 

Mogadore    3000 

Morocco  500 

Arzila 500 

Larache  ■■  1000 

18,500 

Numerous  agricultural  tribes  of  them  are  settled  in  the  Atlas. 

t  It  amounts  to  about  half  a  dollar.  At  Tangier  they  were 
formerly  assessed  2000  ducats  ;  the  half  was  remitted  when  the 
dragomans  of  the  different  consuls,  who  were  the  wealthiest  men 
of  the  tribe,  were  exempted  from  taxation. 


A  JEWISH   MARRIAGE  CUSTOM.  305 

quantity  of  meat  should  be  given  him  daily,  and  fixing 
four  hundred  dollars  as  his  weir  geldt  in  case  of  death. 
The  Jews  supplied  him  so  plentifully,  that  he  died 
of  indigestion.  The  Prince  then  sent  a  hyena,  fixing 
six  pounds  of  beef,  "  besides  the  bones,"  as  his  daily 
allowance,  and  settling  his  head-money  at  one  thou- 
sand dollars  :  the  Jews  began  again  by  giving  him 
ten  pounds  "besides  the  bones."  The  Prince  was, 
however,  soon  after  disgraced  and  imprisoned,  and  the 
Jews  since  then  have  led  a  quiet  life. 

They  are  subject  to  blows  from  any  one  and  every 
one,  and  the  occasion  is  afforded  by  every  holy  place, 
where  the  shoes  have  to  be  taken  off.  Still,  I  have 
not  remarked  that  they  suffer  much.  Up  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  I  have  not  seen  a  Jew  beaten  or  insulted, 
and  I  have  witnessed  on  several  occasions  their  recep- 
tion by  Moors  of  the  first  rank,  in  which  it  would 
have  been  impossible,  but  for  the  dress,  to  have  known 
the  difference.  Besides,  the  Moors  are  not  proficients 
in  the  art  of  "  self-defence,"  and  could  not  plant  a 
blow  if  they  set  about  it. 

At  a  Jewish  marriage  I  was  standing  beside  the 
bridegroom  when  the  bride  entered :  as  she  crossed 
the  threshold,  he  stooped  down  and  slipped  off  his 
shoe,  and  struck  her  with  the  heel  on  the  nape  of  the 
neck.  I  at  once  saw  the  interpretation  of  the  passage 
in  Scripture,  respecting  the  transfer  of  the  shoe  to 
another,  in  case  the  brother-in-law  did  not  exercise 
his  privilege. 

The  slipper  in  the  East  being  taken  off  in-doors,  or 

VOL.  i.  i 


306  ANALAGOUS  JEWISH  AND  HIGHLAND  CUSTOMS. 

if  not,  left  outside  the  apartment,  is  placed  at  the  edge 
of  the  small  carpets  upon  which  you  sit,  and  is  at 
hand  to  administer  correction,  and  is  here  used  in  sign 
of  the  obedience  of  the  wife,  and  of  the  supremacy 
of  the  husband.  The  Highland  custom  is  to  strike, 
for  "  good  luck,"  as  they  say,  the  bride  with  an  old 
slipper.  Little  do  they  suspect  the  meaning  implied. 
The  regalia  of  Morocco  is  enriched  with  a  pair  of 
embroidered  slippers,  which  are,  or  used  to  be,  carried 
before  the  Sultan,  as  amongst  us  the  sceptre  or  sword 
of  state. 

This  superstition  of  the  old  slipper  reminds  me  of 
another.  In  the  Highlands  the  great  festivity  is  the 
ushering  in  of  the  new  year.  The  moment  is  watched 
for  with  the  utmost  anxiety;  every  one  then  rushes  into 
the  streets,  with  posset  in  hand,  embracing  whoever  he 
meets,  and  shouting  "  Huy  meneh  !  "  This  word  has 
puzzled  the  traveller  and  antiquary ;  it  was  the  very 
word  which  the  Greeks  repeated,  no  more  knowing  its 
meaning  than  the  Highlander  :  Hymenea  or  Hymeneu ! 
and  out  of  which  come,  Hymen,  Hymn,  &c.  Meneh 
was  Jesboal  among  the  Sabeans,  from  minah  or  minik, 
fortifications,  the  procession  going  round  the  walls. 
Men  is  habitation  in  Egyptian  and  Coptic  —  minith 
contracted  to  met,  is  the  name  for  a  village  in  Egypt ; 
it  is  preserved  in  the  Highlands  in  midden.  From 
this  word  come  many  names  of  places  in  Spain,  Italy, 
Africa,  Greece,  and  Asia  Minor.  It  gives  the  names 
to  founders,  as  Menes,  Minos,  Maon,  &c. ;  thence  are 
derived  a  multiplicity  of  the  terms  in  common  use, — 


THE  JEWISH   SABBATH. — THE  PHYLACTERIES.    307 

manes,  ammunition,  mansion ;  manitoni,  month,  ma- 
niac, &c,  and  of  course  the  words  in  Greek  and  Latin, 
through  which  they  have  reached  us.  Minoia  Gaza 
meant  the  Walled  Gaza. 

The  Sabbath  commences  on  Friday  evening,  when 
the  shadow  ceases,  or  when  three  stars  can  be  seen,  and 
lasts  to  the  same  period  of  Saturday.  During  these 
hours  the  Jew  cannot  spread  an  umbrella  ;  it  would 
be  pitching  a  tent : — he  cannot  mount  on  horseback  ; 
it  would  be  going  a  journey  : — he  cannot  smoke ;  it 
would  be  lighting  a  fire  : — he  cannot  put  one  out,  even 
if  it  caught  the  house  : — he  cannot  buy  or  bring  any 
thing,  nor  speak  of  any  worldly  concern,  nor  break  the 
seal  of  a  letter. 

The  most  remarkable  practices  are  the  Phylacteries 
and  the  mystical  garments.  As  to  the  first,  I  had 
hoped  here  to  find  some  traces  of  an  earlier  origin  than 
that  which  is  assigned  to  it — the  Babylonian  Captivity; 
but  was  disappointed.  The  Phylacteries  are  not  as 
our  Guercinos  and  Rembrandts  make  them, — a  scroll  of 
parchment  habitually  paraded  on  the  forehead.  They 
are  small  boxes  covered  with  leather,  containing  pas- 
sages from  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy,*  bound  by  long 
narrow  straps,  one  upon  the  forehead,  and  another  upon 
the  left  arm,  at  the  time  of  prayer.  The  box  is  placed 
on  the  forehead  as  the  seat  of  the  senses,  and  upon  the 
arm  nearest  the  heart,  as  the  seat  of  life.  The  strap 
is  twisted  seven  times   round  the  arm,  three  times 

*  The  passages  are,  Exodus  xiii.  1, 10,  11, 16;  Deut.  vi.  4 — 9; 
and  Deut.  xi.  13—21. 

x  2 


308  THE  PHYLACTERY  AND  MYSTICAL  VESTMENTS. 

round  the  hand,  and  three  times  round  the  second 
finger.  Two  peculiar  knots  are  used  for  tying  them, 
one  to  represent  Dalif,  and  the  other  Ud.  The  Ma- 
zonza  (Mystery  of  the  Covenant)  is  a  small  roll  of 
parchment  with  the  same  passages  put  in  a  piece  of 
cane  and  nailed  to  the  door-post,  on  the  right  side  as 
you  go  out. 

The  Phylactery,  and  the  Mazonza  are  to  the  Jews 
what  amulets  are  to  the  Moors ;  with,  however,  this 
difference,  that  they  protect  against  sin  as  well  as 
against  evil.  One  of  the  Talmudists  writes  : — "  Who- 
ever has  Phylacteries  on  his  head,  Mazonza  on  his  door, 
and  fringes  on  his  garment,  is  assured  that  he  will 
not  sin  ;  for  it  is  written,  *  And  the  threefold  cord  is 
not  easily  rent.'  "  * 

The  mystical  vestments  have  a  very  different  inte- 
rest, and  are  so  connected  with  the  costume  of  this 
country  that  I  shall  reserve  this  subject  till  I  come  to 
the  Moorish  haik.  The  following  passage  from  the 
Baal  Haturim,  expresses  the  preservative  influence  of 
these  usages  upon  the  Jewish  people  : — 

"  Israel  is  son  of  the  Holy  King,  for  they  are  all 
marked  by  Him,  in  their  bodies,  with  the  sacred  mark 
(circumcision) ;  in  their  garments  by  robes  of  merit 
(Taleth  and  fringes) ;  on  their  heads,  by  the  Phylactery 
boxes  with  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  in  their  hands  by 
the  sacred  straps  •  in  their  houses  by  the  Mazonza. 
They  are  marked  in  every  thing  that  they  are  the  sons 
of  the  most  High  Being." 

*  Eccles.  iv.  17. 


FORMER   TREATMENT   OF   JEWS   IN    SPAIN.     309 

The  indifference  of  the  Jews  to  apostacy  may  seem 
incompatible  with  the  instance  I  have  quoted  in  a 
former  chapter :  age  makes  the  difference.  The 
Moors  are  not  doctrinal  :  they  possess  blandishments. 
The  Jews  do  not  fear  them  as  contending  with  age, 
but  as  seducing  youth;  and  their  instinct  appears, 
alike  in  yielding  in  the  one  case,  and  resisting  in 
the  other.  They  are  gainers  in  both,  for  in  the 
one  they  would  lose  by  apostacy,  in  the  other  by 
martyrdom. 

I  have  several  times  visited  the  wife  of  the  rene- 
gade, and  the  mother  of  the  Jewish  boy.  Speaking 
the  Spanish  of  the  sixteenth  century  as  the  Jews  of 
Barbary  do,  she  recalled  the  condition  of  the  Jews  in 
Spain,  as  the  fate  of  her  husband  and  child  did  some- 
thing of  the  cause  of  their  expulsion.  The  peninsula, 
which  did  not  share  in  the  frenzy  of  the  Crusaders, 
remained  a  stranger  to  the  religious  fanaticism  which 
resulted  from  them.  At  the  time  when  the  Jews 
were  proscribed  throughout  the  rest  of  Europe,  they 
were,  in  Spain,  the  favourites  of  monarchs,  princes, 
and  rulers — they  were  possessors  of  land — they  had 
most  of  the  wealth  and  commerce  of  the  different 
kingdoms  in  their  hands,  and  appear  to  have  been 
twice  as  numerous  as  their  forefathers  when  they 
entered  the  Holy  Land.  *  Then  did  the  persecutions 
here  assume  a  savage  character  unknown  elsewhere. 

No  cause  has   been  assigned  for  the  sudden   and 
bitter  spirit  of  persecution  which,  at  so  late  a  period, 

*  See  calculation  in  Lindo's  "  Jews  of  the  Peninsula." 


310  THE   JEWS   IN   SPAIN. 

arose  against  them.  It  may  have  taken  its  rise  in 
their  being  the  fiscal  agents  for  king,  bishop,  monastery, 
and  proprietor.  First  assailed  from  social  animosities, 
their  manner  of  screening  themselves  (which  was  af- 
forded in  no  other  country)  aroused  the  inextinguish- 
able hatred  of  the  Christians.  That  part  of  their 
history,  suggested  by  circumstances  before  me,  is  their 
facility  in  receiving  baptism,  then,  of  course,  relapsing  ; 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  of  these  nomi- 
nally conforming  Christians,  and  their  children  and 
descendants,  filled  every  grade  of  the  priesthood,  and 
occupied  the  episcopal  thrones  of  Spain.  Out  of  this 
again  grew  the  Inquisition,  the  most  artful  instrument 
of  despotic  power,  and  which,  in  Europe,  has  been 
mistaken  for  a  religious  institution.  Finding  that 
conversions  were  worthless,  the  proof  of  apostacy  was 
sought  in  the  traces  of  blood.  The  processes  of  the 
Inquisition  were  afterwards  imitated  by  Parliament 
in  England,  when,  fabricating  a  church  by  law,  it 
framed  articles  to  catch  consciences,  as  it  now  does 
resolutions  to  catch  votes.  The  two  great  events  are 
the  emancipation  from  bondage,  and  the  conquest  of 
a  territory.  Promises,  rights,  obligations,  and  com- 
mandments, are  all  understood  with  reference  to  these. 
The  stranger  within  their  gates  was  to  obey  the  com- 
mandments. He  partook  of  necessity  in  certain  cere- 
monies :  he  might  at  his  option  be  admitted  to  all, 
unless  excepted,  like  the  Philistines,  Amalekites,  &c, 
because  of  historical  events.  Hence  the  differ- 
ence with  Mussulmans  and  Christians,  whose  bond  is 


THE   JEWISH  AND   MAHOMMEDAN    RELIGIONS.    311 

wholly  religious,  and  who  aim  at  extinguishing  all 
distinctions  derived  from  birth  and  race.  The  Jews 
having  no  idea  of  converting  others,  estimate  differently 
from  us  an  apparent  conformity  with  the  creeds  of  the 
people  among  whom  they  sojourn.* 

The  Jews  have  in  common  with  the  Mussulmans 
everything  like  doctrine— the  unity  of  the  Godhead 
— the  attributes  of  God — the  inspiration  of  the  Sacred 
Books,  the  Creation,  the  scheme  of  Providence,  the 
prophets  on  earth,  the  chosen  people,  the  law  of  Sinai 
and  of  Horeb,  the  ceremony — the  abhorrence  of  idol- 
atry. There  is  nothing  the  Jew  believes  that  the 
Mussulman  does  not  believe  ;  there  is  no  ceremony 
the  Jew  performs  that  the  Mussulman  does  not  respect, 
or  meat  that  he  prepares,  which  the  Mussulman  cannot 
eat.  f  The  passage,  therefore,  from  Judaism  to  Islamism 
appears  easy.  It  was  amongst  the  Jews  that  Islamism 
first  and  most  rapidly  spread  :  fifty  thousand  were 
converted  in  one  day,  yet  in  its  subsequent  stages 
it  has  been  by  them  most  uncompromisingly  resisted. 
Millions  of  Christians  have  become  Mussulmans  ;  of 
the  Jews,  no  influx  has  taken  place.  I  know  but  of 
two  cases  of  apparent  conformity:   the  one  is  a  tribe 

*  An  Englishman  at  Gibraltar  has  recently  become  a  Jew,  and 
they  seem  to  have  invented  some  strange  process  of  admission 
and  subjected  him  to  a  total  abstinence  from  food  during  seven 
days.  He  gave  up  a  petty  office  he  held  in  the  police,  which 
required  him  to  work  on  Saturday. 

f  The  Mussulman  is  indeed  enjoined  by  the  Koran  to  eat 
without  asking  questions  whatever  is  offered  to  him  by  a  Chris- 
tian,  as  well  as  a  Jew,  but  this  they  do  not  always  practise. 


312      PRACTICES   OF   JEWS   AND   MUSSULMANS. 

at  Thessalonica,  who  are  called  the  Changed  (Dunmeh  ; 
The  other  a  tribe  in  Suz,  also  known  by  the  name 
of  the  Changed.*  In  both  cases  they  live  as  a  dis- 
tinct race ;  do  not  intermarry  with  the  Mussulmans  ; 
and,  though  enjoying  the  privileges  of  Islamism,  are 
not  looked  upon  by  the  Jews  as  renegades. 

The  father  of  the  boy  whose  story  I  have  told,  pro- 
fessed Islamism  to  escape  popular  vengeance,  aroused  by 
the  extortions  of  a  governor  at  Dar  el  Baida,  whose 
agent  he  was.  He  nevertheless  continued  to  live  in 
the  Jews'  quarter  with  his  wife  and  child  :  instead  of 
bringing  up  the  child  in  his  new  faith,  he  sedulously 
inculcated  on  him  the  observance  of  the  law.  The 
Jews  seem  to  have  looked  upon  him  as  one  who  had 
incurred  a  misfortune.  His  Islamism  was  rather  a 
disease,  for  which  he  had  to  be  pitied,  than  an  apostacy 
for  which  he  was  to  be  abhorred  ;  and  as  the  Jews 
took  no  offence  at  his  religious  profession,  so  the  Moors 
took  none  at  his  domestic  habits. 

The  Mussulmans  accept  the  practices  of  the  Jews, 
but  not  so  the  latter.  Both  cut  the  throats  of  animals, 
and  allow  "  the  blood  to  run  like  water  on  the  earth ;" 
but  the  Mussulman  does  not  inspect  the  bowels  of  the 

*  "  In  Terjgient  there  is  a  people  called  the  Medjehrahs,  of 
Jewish  extraction,  who,  to  escape  death  (?)  embraced  Islamism. 
They  have  the  peculiar  Jewish  features,  and  the  Arabs  say,  their 
houses  have  the  Jewish  smell.  They  live  in  quarters  set  apart 
for  themselves,  but  they  do  not  intermarry  :  they  are  scribes  and 
merchants,  but  are  never  raised  to  the  office  of  Ca'id  or  Imaum. 
They  do  not  observe  Friday  as  the  Sabbath." — Davidson's 
Journal. 


THE   JEWS   OF    BARBARY.  313 

ox  or  the  sheep  to  determine  whether  it  be  Teaser 
(imperfect)  or  tarefa  (forbidden) ;  he  does  not,  before 
and  after  the  operation,  observe  whether  there  be  a 
flaw  or  jag  in  the  knife.  He  does  not  examine  whe- 
ther the  windpipe  of  the  animal  be  completely  severed 
— he  does  not  abstain  from  "seething  the  kid  in  its 
mother's  milk  f  that  is,  from  mixing  meat,  or  the  juice 
of  meat,  in  the  same  dish  with  butter,  or  from  eating 
the  internal  fat.  The  food,  therefore,  of  the  Mussul- 
man, is  rejected  by  the  Jews,  even  to  the  dishes  from 
which  they  have  eaten.  The  great  obstacle  to  their 
amalgamation  with  the  Mussulmans  is  the  character 
of  Christ.  In  the  Mussulman  system  Christ  is  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  is  to  be  the  Judge  of  the  world  : 
this,  and  the  recognition  of  the  Gospel  by  the  Mus- 
sulmans, is  the  stumbling  block  in  their  path,  and 
hence  the  common  expression,  "  A  Jew  must  become  a 
Christian  before  he  can  be  a  Mussulman." 

The  Jew  in  Barbary  appears  to  me  more  Jewish 
than  elsewhere.  The  burden  on  him  is  greater,  and 
religious  support  less.  They  are  Sadducees,  if  I  am 
to  judge  by  the  conversations  I  have  had  with  some ; 
and  have  no  idea  of  believing  anything.  In  proportion 
to  the  association  of  a  system  of  religion  with  domes- 
tic matters  is  it  enduring.  Those  of  Menu  and  Con- 
fucius stand,  while  the  more  theoretic  one  of  Zoroaster 
has  passed  away.  That  of  Menu  presents  not  one, 
but  a  hundred  different  examples  ;  for  as  many  castes 
as  there  are,  so  many  systems  may  there  be  said  to 
be,  and  these  are  all  based  on  injunctions  respecting 


314  CULINARY   CONTRIVANCE 

food  and  ceremonial.  Confucius's  system  is  the  sim- 
plest form  of  natural  religion,  and  the  purest  rule 
of  morals  :  it  has  no  superstition,  no  priesthood,  no 
castes,  no  doctrines — whence  then  its  durability  %  Its 
basis  is  the  ceremonial  of  society.  It  has  minutely 
regulated  the  forms  of  intercourse  and  the  mode  of 
salutation  of  the  nearest  relatives. 

Judaism  in  Barbary  is  not  propped  up  by  belief, 
nor  is  it  by  etiquette ;  but  chiefly,  I  should  say,  by 
cookery.  In  this  respect  they  are  under  constant 
restraint  \  ever  linked  to  the  race,  and  disjoined  from 
all  others.  With  what  pleasure  must  they  reach 
a  Jewish  house  or  quarter,  after  travelling  for  days 
or  weeks,  unable  to  taste  almost  any  food  that  is  to 
be  got ;  to  solace  themselves  with  a  cup  of  wine,  or  to 
partake  of  their  own  much-loved  and  not  despicable 
Dafina ! 

Who  has  not  heard  of  the  olla  podrida — to  what 
corner  of  the  earth  has  its  fame  not  reached  1  The 
honour  belongs,  nevertheless,  to  the  Jews  :  the  Spaniard 
has  only  copied  and  disfigured.  The  original  is  a  re- 
markable specimen  of  human  ingenuity,  which  has 
constructed  a  culinary  go-cart  for  the  Hebrew  con- 
science, and  reconciled  the  Israelite's  predilections  with 
his  scruples.  He  is  forbidden  to  make  or  touch  fire 
on  the  sabbath ;  he  desires  to  have  a  hot  breakfast, 
dinner,  and  supper  on  that  day ;  and  he  obtains  these 
meals  without  infringing  that  law.  He  has  invented  a 
fire,  which,  without  mending  or  touching,  will  last  over 
the  twenty- four  hours,  and  a  pot  which  will  furnish 


OF   THE   JEWS.  315 

out  of  its  single  belly,  a  whole  meal,  and  three  meals 
in  the  day  perfectly  cooked  in  the  morning,  and  not 
overdone  at  night.  This  is  the  Dafina*  and  the  day 
on  which  all  cooking  was  forbidden,  has,  in  consequence 
of  the  prohibition,  become  the  feast-day  of  the  Jews. 

In  these  countries,  kitchen-ranges  and  hot  tables 
are  unknown.  It  is  the  practice  to  make  as  many 
fires  as  there  are  dishes  to  be  simultaneously  cooked. 
Those  who  have  served  in  India  understand  how  soon 
a  few  holes  are  made  in  the  ground,  and  how  speedily 
a  multiplicity  of  pans  are  simmering  over  them. 
This  tent  practice  is  here  preserved  in  doors,  and 
little  earthen  pots,  called  nafi,  constructed  so  as  to 
allow  draught,  contain  the  charcoal,  and  on  these  the 
pots  are  set  to  boil.  In  preparing  the  Dafina,  the  first 
thing  is  the  build  of  the  charcoal  in  this  small  fire-pan, 
to  make  it  burn  slow  and  last  long.  This  is  managed 
by  four  layers  of  charcoal  in  lumps,  and  charcoal 
pounded.  It  is  lighted  on  the  Friday  about  four 
hours  before  sunset.  The  ingredients  are  successively 
put  in  :  the  last  just  before  the  Sabbath  commences. 
The  whole  is  first  made  to  boil,  then  the  fire  is  re- 
duced by  the  stratification  I  have  mentioned. 

Ingredients.  —  Grabangos,  potatoes,  (English  and 
African),  eggs,  beef,  rice,  marrow,  rasped  biscuit,  pars- 
ley, marjoram,  nutmeg,  pepper,  salt,  and  sometimes 
neat's  feet  and  sweetbreads. 

Produce. — First  course. —  Top.  Eggs   in   the   shell. 
Bottom,  stewed  potatoes,  sweet  and  common. 
*  Whence  the  Greek  AtlTrvov. 


316  JEWISH   DISHES. 

Second  course. — Top.  Rice  and  marrow  sausages. 
Middle,  Boulli.     Bottom.  Meat  sausages. 

Third  course. — One  large  dish  of  stewed  Grabangos. 

Recipe. — The  grabangos  are  an  excellent  vegetable 
when  well  cooked,  but  require  great  care.  They  must 
be  first  steeped  several  hours  with  wood  ashes.  They 
are  put  in  the  pot  first,  as  soon  as  the  water  has 
boiled  ;  next  the  eggs  in  the  shell ;  next  the  meat 
sausages ;  then  the  meat ;  after  that  the  rice  sausages, 
and  last  of  all  the  potatoes  :  water  equal  to  one-third 
of  the  rest. 

Meat  Sausage. — Beef  chopped  very  fine,  fat  (not 
of  the  entrails,  but  pared  from  the  muscle),  marrow, 
rasped  biscuit,  the  seasonings  above  enumerated,  and 
eggs  to  bind. 

Rice  Sausage. — The  rice  is  parboiled.  It  is  then 
mixed  with  the  soft  fat  from  the  muscle,  the  same 
seasoning  but  not  so  strong,  and  the  binding  of  white 
of  egg. 

In  large  families  the  dish  contains  sometimes 
thirty  or  forty  pounds  of  beef,  four  dozen  eggs,  and 
eight  sausages  made  of  the  largest  entrails  of  the 
bullock.  Potatoes  are  of  modern  introduction,  but 
the  sw6et  potato  is  an  ancient  produce  of  the  country. 
The  English  potato  is  called  Roman,  as  coming 
from  Europe. 


AN  ADVENTURE.  317 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    BAIRAM. 

December  10th. 
This  morning  Mustafa  Ducaly  sent  me,  by  his  man 
Selam,  a  "  Dollond,"  and  a  ladder,  telling  me  to  run  to 
Hassan  to  see  the  Bairam,  which  was  to  be  held  on 
the  downs  to  the  south  of  the  city,  without  the  Caid's 
permission,  and  a  guard  was  enjoined  not  to  cross  the 
threshold.  Authorities  and  soldiers  had  all  deserted 
the  city.  Selam  sallied  out  in  search  of  some  one 
who  should  pass  for  a  guard,  and  found  a  soldier 
belonging  to  Tangier  who  was  familiar  with  Europeans. 
After  passing  the  gate,  I  found  myself  for  the  first 
time  at  liberty  to  roam,  and  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  ;  so,  instead  of  turning  to  the  left  towards 
the  tower,  we  turned  through  the  gardens  to  the  right, 
hoping  to  get  through  the  second  wall,  or  to  see  the 
Bairam  from  it.  We  made  for  a  huge  gate,  but  on 
reaching  it  found  it  barred.  The  wall  was  about  forty 
feet  high,  and  in  good  repair  :  there  were  no  staircases. 
All  chance  of  getting  a  glimpse  of  the  ceremony  was 
now  lost,  and  we  rambled  along  through  the  gardens  ; 
but  the  ignorance  of  our  elected  guards,  strangers,  like 
ourselves,  as  to  what  was  or  was  not  taboo,  was  worse 


318  SHALLAH. 

than  the  severity  of  our  regular  keepers.  They  were 
at  every  turn,  doubting,  fearing,  warning,  objecting. 
Our  course  was  like  that  of  a  vessel  feeling  her  way 
over  sand-banks :  one  moment  it  was  "  starboard," 
the  next  "  hard-a-port."  "  There  it  is  bad,"  would 
our  pilot  exclaim,  and  ever  and  anon  we  were  laid  all 
aback,  with  the  "  breakers  ahead  M  of  "  Saint's  Tomb." 
We  worked  on  till  we  came  to  a  gate  in  the  wall 
facing  the  east,  and  issuing  forth,  beheld  another  city. 
This  could  be  no  other  than  the  Shallah,  of  which  we 
had  heard  so  often,  and  from  which  spring-water  was 
daily  brought.  Neither  Christian  nor  Jew  is  allowed 
so  much  as  to  approach  it.  Profiting  by  the  occasion, 
I  hastened  on  before  my  companions'  fears  could  rally, 
or  their  remonstrances  be  urged. 

The  gate,  or  rather  barbican  (for  the  Moorish  word 
is  required  to  convey  the  Moorish  thing),  is  peculiarly 
constructed  and  ornamented.  The  arch  is  the  horse- 
shoe, pointed  like  the  Gothic.  The  vivid  colours  and 
stuccos  which  elsewhere  adorn  the  interiors  here,  as 
of  Babylon  and  Ecbatana,  are  displayed  outside ; — the 
style  is  quaint  and  rich. 

This  city  was  in  ruins  before  those  buildings  arose, 
which  are  considered  the  models  of  that  style:  the 
date  of  its  fall  is  that  of  the  erection  of  Westminster 
Hall, — itself  the  work  of  a  pupil  of  the  Saracens. 
The  walls  of  the  present  city  of  Rabat,  which  sig- 
nifies camp,  stand  on  the  lines  of  the  camp  of  Jacob 
when  he  was  besieging  it. 

Whilst  I  was  making  a  sketch  of  the  gate,  the  Moors 


A  SURPRISE.  319 

came  up  beseeching  me  on  their  account  not  to  enter ; 
they  proposed  to  go  in  and  report :  they  soon  came 
out,  exclaiming,  "  Holy  Place  ; "  "  Saints'  Tombs."  I 
cut  the  matter  short  by  passing  the  portal  and  ascend- 
ing a  stair  that  led  to  the  top  of  the  gate.  The 
prospect  thence  was  enchanting  :  the  ground  broke 
away  immediately  in  front  as  we  looked  eastward, 
the  masses  of  red  ruin  cresting  the  heights  on  both 
sides,  and  running  down  to  the  river.  Beyond  spread 
the  plain  of  emerald  green,  with  the  river  meandering 
through  it,  and  the  landscape  closed  with  long  waves 
of  sandhills  of  olive  green  on  their  summits  and  red 
and  yellow  on  their  broken  faces.  I  saw  not  a  soul, 
and  was  making  myself  merry  with  the  fears  of  our 
conductors,  when  the  alarm  was  sounded  by  the  dogs, 
and  presently  two  old  men  rushed  at  us,  frantic  with 
rage  ; — fortunately  they  had  no  arms. 

Of  our  Moors,  one  only  retained  the  faculty  of  speech. 
He  endeavoured  to  explain  that  I  had  the  Sultan's  per- 
mission, on  which  one  of  the  old  men  (the  other  had 
gone  to  raise  the  hue  and  cry)  became  wilder  than 
before.  He  would  shoot  the  Sultan  ;  the  Sultan  dared 
not  give  an  order  there,  nor  enter  the  place  except  with 
bare  feet.  The  soldier  threw  his  cap  on  the  ground, 
knelt  down,  and  jumped  up;  tried  to  kiss  his  head,  his 
hands,  his  feet,  his  clothes.  I  left  them  so  engaged, 
quietly  returning  towards  Rabat.  At  the  gate  Selam 
overtook  me,  calling  out,  "  Run,  run !  wild  man  gone 
for  gun. "  We  had  a  fair  start,  but  I  could  not  con- 
descend  to  hurry  beyond  a  steady  pace :  Selam  relieved 


320  AN  ESCAPE. 

himself  by  mumbling  dismal  sounds  close  to  my  ear, 
in  his  broken  English  :  "You  bring  me  and  other 
Moors  into  trouble  ;  I  do  your  bidding  instead  of  mas- 
ter s  and  Sultan's,  and  be  at  Bairam  in  my  new  clothes. 
I  be  shot  outside  like  a  dog,  or  flogged  inside  like  a 
Jew."  At  every  moment  we  expected  to  meet  a  crowd 
returning,  for  the  old  fanatic,  on  reaching  the  town, 
could  raise  the  people  upon  us  in  an  instant.  How- 
ever, the  distance  was  soon  traversed,  and  before  he 
hove  in  sight  we  had  reached  the  gate.  It  was  locked ! 
We  then  hastened  along  the  wall  to  the  right,  expect- 
ing to  get  in  by  the  next  gate  —  there  was  none  !  We 
came  to  the  steep  edge  of  the  river,  and  there  we  were 
completely  hemmed  in.  At  that  moment,  our  pur- 
suers, now  consisting  of  several  armed  men,  came  in 
sight ;  when  a  boat  with  soldiers  and  horses  shoved  up 
close  in  shore,  to  drop  down  the  current  to  Salee. 
Our  Moors  hailed  them ;  they  pushed  in ;  we  scram- 
bled down,  and  leaping  on  board,  shoved  off,  and  were 
out  of  hail — or  at  least  speaking  distance — before  our 
pursuers  reached  the  bank.  They  durst  not  fire,  and 
there  being  no  other  boat,  they  ran  back  to  get  in  by 
the  Bairam-gate,  so  as  to  intercept  us  before  we  could 
be  re-shipped  back  from  Salee.  In  the  meantime,  we 
espied  a  boat  belonging  to  a  Portuguese  schooner :  we 
hailed  it,  got  on  board  of  it,  and  were  speedily  landed 
and  housed  at  the  consulate.  The  soldier  made  off  to 
Salee,  vowing  never  to  set  eyes  on  Rabat  again,  and 
Selam,  enjoining  profound  secrecy,  hastened  to  his 
master,  whom  he  found  with  the  Caid.     Scarcely  had 


THE    SULTAN    AT   THE    BAIRAM.  321 

he  told  his  story  when  the  people  from  Shallah  ap- 
peared. Fortunately,  everybody  was  busy  with  his 
own  affairs,  and  the  Ca'id  succeeded  in  appeasing 
all  ;  but  this  evening  there  has  been  great  excite- 
ment in  the  city,  and  I  am  told  that  I  shall  have  to  be 
conveyed  privately  out  of  Rabat.  However,  like  the 
Russian  expedition  of  1833  to  the  Bosphorus,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  having  got  into,  I  have  to  add  that  of 
having  got  out  of,  Shallah. 

What  an  extraordinary  thing  to  see  a  people  thus 
ignorant,  and  yet  thus  devoted  to  the  vestiges  of  their 
antiquity  :  sanctifying  spots  untenanted  for  scores  of 
generations — taking  the  shoes  from  off  their  feet  when 
they  press  them,  and  ready  to  sacrifice  to  the  manes 
of  the  departed  the  stranger  who  disturbs  their  long 
repose ! 

The  Bairam  has  passed  off  most  happily  :  the  day 
was  splendid  ;  the  gathering  and  the  presents  satis- 
factory to  the  Emperor.  He  condescended  to  tell  the 
people  of  Rabat  that  they  were  wholly  forgiven ;  that 
the  choice  they  had  made,  proved  them  to  be  wise  and 
just  in  all  their  ways  ;  that  he  had  not  ratified  their 
choice  because  they  had  made  it,  but  because  it  was 
the  best  that  could  be  made  ;  and  that,  though  young 
in  years,  their  Ca'id  was  old  in  wisdom.  The  Sultan 
has  also  released  a  former  governor  of  Salee,  and  sent 
a  pardon  to  a  son  of  the  late  Sultan,  his  uncle,  who 
has  been  four  years  in  irons  at  Mequinez.  The  dis- 
grace yesterday  of  Hamuda  has  proved  a  golden  oppor- 
tunity for  him.     The  firing  of  his  regiment  with  two 

vol.  I.  v 


322  THE   ADMIRAL   OF   SALEE. 

pieces,  was  quicker  than  that  of  the  other  with  their 
ten.  The  Sultan  went  up  to  him  and  complimented 
him,  saying,  "  God  prosper  you f  upon  which  all  the 
grandees  did  the  same.  Mustafa  has  also  come  in 
for  his  share  of  good  things.  Eight  field-pieces  which 
he  had  offered  as  a  present,  were  refused  as  such,  in 
these  words  j  "  I  want  you  to  become  fat  and  not  lean, 
because  you  are  my  friend,  and  now  I  make  you  the 
head  and  master  of  the  merchants  of  Morocco. "  The 
ladies  of  the  harem  have  not,  however,  been  equally 
scrupulous,  and  have  made  no  difficulty  in  receiving 
the  keepsakes  he  has  brought  them  from  Europe,  con- 
sisting, among  other  things,  of  dresses  of  brocade  at 
twenty  guineas  a  yard. 

The  afternoon  was  spent  in  receiving  visitors,  among 
whom  was  the  admiral  of  Salee  in  a  gorgeous  Algerine 
costume.  He  is  also  captain  of  the  port  and  pilot,  and 
the  representative  of  the  first  family  of  the  empire, 
Muley  Idris,  its  first  founder,  who  is  also  one  of  the 
chief  living  saints.  Four  of  this  family  are  bound 
to  compliment  the  Emperor  on  the  Bairam  ;  they  had 
come  for  that  purpose,  carrying  with  them  the  offer- 
ings of  the  capital.  Two  of  these  accompanied  the 
saint,  and  presented  the  strongest  contrast  that  could 
be  imagined  with  the  fanatics  from  whose  balls  and 
daggers  we  had  just  before  escaped.  They  were  affa- 
ble, curious,  facile,  and  lively  :  they  had  never  seen 
the  sea  before,  and  admired  it  like  children.  They 
explained  their  visit  by  saying  they  wanted  to  know 
what  a  Christian  was   like,  never  having  seen   one. 


BUFFOON  OF  THE  SULTAN.        323 

When  I  told  them  about  Leo  Africanus  and  El  Edressi, 
the  geographers  who  on  the  fall  of  the  dynasty  had 
taken  refuge  in  Sicily,  where  his  history  was  written, 
they  were  exceedingly  delighted.  They  invited  me 
to  Fez;  and  when  I  spoke  of  the  difficulties  of  a 
Christian  going  there,  they  declared  they  would  an- 
swer for  me  with  their  heads.  They  spend  to-morrow 
in  attendance  on  the  Sultan ;  the  day  following  they 
are  to  repeat  their  visit  here. 

I  must  not  omit  another  important  personage,  no 
less  than  the  Sultan's  buffoon  :  this,  indeed,  is  the 
third  visit  I  have  received  from  him,  and  each  time 
he  has  carried  away  two  or  three  bottles  under  his 
girdle,  besides  one  in  his  sack.  He  has  a  good  voice, 
and  a  wonderful  stock  of  strange  songs,  and  is  an 
admirable  mimic.  I  have  heard  him  mingle  together 
the  muezzin  chant,  from  the  minaret,  with  the  cries 
of  a  European  vessel  getting  under  weigh.  He  is  a 
compound  of  the  zany,  mimic,  minion,  bard,  and 
bacchanal. 

The  strangeness  of  this  people,  instead  of  wearing 
off,  increases  with  acquaintance — so  much  ease  and 
facility  at  one  monent,  is  followed  by  unexpected  and 
unaccountable  difficulties.  The  dramatic,  not  the 
speculative,  man  is  strong  in  them.  What  can  be 
more  surprising,  at  this  moment,  than  their  total  forget- 
fulness  of  the  existence  of  France  :  how  would  it  shock 
the  pride  of  the  victor  to  find  that  the  defeated  have 
already  forgotten  Isly  and  Mogadore !  When  I  saw 
to-day  the  dense  mass  of  the  tens  of  thousands  tran- 

Y    2 


324       ACCOUNT  BY  LEO  AFRICANUS 

quilly  performing  their  Bairam,  I  thought  of  the  Greeks 
celebrating  their  Olympic  games  with  the  Persians  at 
Thermopylae. 

However  primitive  Morocco  may  be  in  its  customs, 
it  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  convulsions  which 
accompanied  the  rise,  and  more  particularly  the  fall, 
of  the  Beni  Marine  dynasty,  and  the  almost  total 
subjugation  of  the  country  by  Portugal,  and  then  the 
civil  war  (and  that  ensued  before  the  establishment 
of  a  Sheriffean  dynasty),  reduced  this  region,  in  a 
period  of  two  generations,  to  an  almost  chaotic  state. 
What  shipwreck  must  there  have  been  of  old  usages ! 
A  few  traces  appear  in  the  three  or  four  meagre 
works  written  on  Africa  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  town  of  Salee,  as  described  by  Leo  Africanus, 
would  scarcely  be  recognised  in  the  city  which  lay 
before  me,  of  which  I  could  measure  the  dimensions 
and  observe  the  contents,  though  I  could  not  pass  the 
gates. 

"  It  is  most  pleasantly  situate  upon  the  sea-shore, 
within  half  a  mile  of  Rabat,  both  which  town  and 
the  river  Barugrag  separateth  in  sunder.  The  build- 
ings of  this  town  carry  a  show  of  antiquity  on  them, 
being  artificially  carved  and  stately  supported  with 
marble  pillars.  Their  temples  are  most  beautiful, 
and  their  shops  are  built  under  large  porches;  and 
at  the  end  of  every  row  of  shops  is  an  arch,  which 
(as  they  say)  is  to  divide  one  occupation  from  an- 
other. And  to  say  all  in  a  word,  here  is  nothing 
wanting   which   may  be  required,  either  in   a  most 


OF    SALEE.  325 

honourable  city,  or  in  a  flourishing  commonwealth. 
Moreover,  here  resort  all  kinds  of  merchants,  Christ- 
ians, and  others.  Here  the  Genoese,  Venetians,  En- 
glish, and  Low  Dutch  used  to  traffic.  The  inhabitants 
do  weave  most  excellent  cotton.  Here,  likewise,  are 
made  very  fine  combs,  which  are  sold  in  all  the 
kingdom  of  Fez  ;  for  the  region  thereabout  yieldeth 
great  plenty  of  box  and  of  other  wood  fit  for  the 
same  purpose.  Their  Government  is  very  orderly  and 
discreet,  even  until  this  day;  for  they  have  most 
learned  judges,  umpires,  and  deciders  of  doubtful 
cases  in  law. 

"  This  town  is  frequented  by  many  rich  merchants 
of  Genoa,  whom  the  king  hath  always  had  in  great 
regard,  because  he  gaineth  much  yearly  by  their  traffic. 
The  said  merchants  have  their  abode  and  diet  partly 
here  at  Salla,  and  partly  at  Fez,  from  both  which 
towns  they  mutually  help  the  traffic,  one  of  another." 

The  change  in  the  disposition  of  the  people  is  not 
less  marked  than  that  in  the  character  of  the  city. 
Little  would  one  suspect  to-day,  that  two  centuries  ago, 
Christians  were  thus  hospitably  received  and  kindly 
treated  in  Salee.  He  continues: — "In  the  year  of 
the  Hegira,  670,  it  was  surprised  by  a  Castilian  cap- 
tain, the  inhabitants  being  put  to  flight,  and  the 
Christians  enjoying  the  city.  *  *  *  And  albeit  this 
town  was  in  so  few  days  recovered  from  the  enemy, 
yet  a  world  it  was  to  see  what  a  wonderful  altera- 
tion both  of  the  houses  and  of  the  state  of  govern- 
ment happened.     Many  houses  of  this  town  are  left 


326  ESTIMATE   BY   THE   RENEGADES 

desolate,  especially  near  the  town  walls ;  which,  albeit, 
they  are  most  stately  and  curiously  built,  yet  no  man 
there  is  that  will  inhabit  them." 

Dec.  11th. 

I  have  seen  several  of  the  renegades.  The  French 
are  the  only  ones  who  have  any  knowledge  by  which 
they  may  be  useful.  One  came  to  talk  about  a  project 
of  a  wire  suspension  bridge  over  the  Seboo.  He  re- 
mained nearly  the  whole  day,  and  detailed  his  life  and 
adventures  during  the  dozen  years  he  has  been  in  this 
country.  Several  of  them  have  been  with  Abd-el 
Kadir.  They  spoke  in  high  terms  of  the  presumed 
succession  of  the  Sultan,  and  of  some  other  leading 
men.  With  these  few  exceptions,  their  discourse  was 
most  unfavourable  to  the  Moors,  whom  they  called 
cowards  and  braggarts.  In  their  battles  the  loss  never 
exceeded  twenty  men ;  and  a  single  French  regiment 
might  march  to  Morocco.  The  Arabs,  they  said,  were 
divided  amongst  themselves;  but  the  Brebers  were 
still  more  so;  and  the  art  of  Government  here  con- 
sisted in  setting  one  tribe  against  another,  and  one 
chief  against  another.  Their  remedy  was  disciplined 
troops.  If  the  Emperor,  said  one  of  them,  had  had 
five  thousand  disciplined  men,  he  never  would  have 
received  M.  Roche. 

I  said,  that  if  the  Emperor  had  known  how  to 
transact  a  matter  of  business,  he  never  would  have 
been  insulted  by  the  presence  of  that  person,  and 
that  one  hundred   thousand  men  would  not  give  him 


OF   ABD-EL-KADIR.  327 

that  knowledge.  I  instanced  Spain  and  Algiers  as 
evidence  of  the  power  of  resistance  of  a  country  des- 
titute, not  of  regular  troops  only,  but  of  a  Govern- 
ment. I  added,  that  a  regular  army  facilitated  inva- 
sion, but  not  defence,  and  generally  proved  the  means 
of  rendering  a  people  an  easy  prey.  Certainly,  to  put 
an  army  at  the  disposal  of  the  Emperor  of  Morocco 
would  be  the  means  of  doing  so. 

Abd-el-Kadir  was  rated  very  low,  and  spoken  of  very 
little.  The  Europeans  admired  him  for  his  valour, 
enterprise,  generosity,  and  humanity ;  but  did  not 
respect  his  military  judgment.  They  said  that  he 
uselessly  exposed  men  and  tribes,  threw  away  great 
opportunities,  and  afforded  to  the  French  the  means  of 
extending  their  authority. 

If  Abd-el-Kadir  had  not  been  playing  a  game,  at 
all  events  a  game  was  played  in  his  person.  He  was 
necessary  to  the  French  military  system  of  Algiers. 
He  is  known  to  have  been  three  times  in  their  hands, 
and  to  have  been  suffered  to  escape. 

From  one  who  had  been  for  seven  years  the  com- 
panion of  Abd-el-Kadir,  I  give  the  following  incidents. 
After  the  destruction  of  the  Turkish  Government,  the 
most  powerful  chief  was  Mahmud  Ben  Ismael,  the  de- 
scendant of  the  man  who  had  first  entered  Oran  on 
its  evacuation  by  the  Spaniards.  Abd-el-Kadir  came 
next  by  his  family  and  religious  character:  differ- 
ences arising  between  them,  the  latter  had  to  fly, 
and  took  refuge  in  Oran,  asking  the  assistance  of 
the  French.    They  did  not  neglect  the  opportunity  to 


328  THE  FRENCH  RENEGADE  AND  ABD-EL-KADIR. 

sow  divisions  between  the  tribes,  and  gave  him  arms, 
ammunition,  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  With 
these  means  he  defeated  his  rival,  who,  in  like 
manner,  came  to  the  French,  and  said,  "  You  have 
strengthened  iriy  rival  against  me  ;  deal  fairly  now 
by  me."  They  required  that  he  should  acknowledge 
himself  the  vassal  of  France  ;  but  this  proposal  he 
rejected.  Abd-el-Kadir  from  that  time  continued  at 
war  with  the  French,  till  the  treaty  of  the  Tafna, 
by  which  the  French  appeared  to  gain  some  show 
of  title,  but  in  reality  invested  Abd-el-Kadir  with 
a  quasi  sovereign  character. 

The  rupture  of  this  treaty  was  occasioned  by  the 
violation  of  the  Emir's  territory  by  the  Duke  d'Aumale, 
when  returning  from  Constantine.  He  led  the  troops 
through  passes  which  exposed  them  to  be  cut  off,  had 
not  treachery  been  at  work.  A  French  renegade  had 
insinuated  himself  into  the  confidence  and  affections 
of  Abd-el-Kadir.  This  man  stole  the  seal  of  the 
Emir,  and  wrote  letters  to  the  Chiefs,  requiring  them 
to  allow  the  French  to  pass.  A  Jew,  who  in  the 
pillage  of  the  treasury  of  Algiers  had  secured  a  quan- 
tity of  jewels,  and  had,  therefore,  to  fly,  and  was  in 
the  deira,  discovered  the  fraud.  High  words  ensued 
in  the  tent  of  the  renegade  :  the  conversation  was 
carried  on  in  French,  and  M.  Lascases,  a  French  ad- 
vocate, who,  compromised  in  the  affairs  of  July,  had 
taken  refuge  with  Abd-el-Kadir,  entered  the  tent  to 
implore  them  not  to  speak  so  loud.  -  He  thus  became 
acquainted  with  the  transaction.     (He  afterwards  came 


MOORISH  INTEREST  FOR  C1RCASSIA.  329 

to  Morocco.)  The  Jew  was  quieted,  and  induced  to 
remain  and  sup  with  the  renegade.  Next  morning 
the  renegade  had  left,  and  in  the  tent  the  Jew  was 
found  dead.  At  Mascara  the  renegade  took  one  of 
Abd-el-Kadir's  people  to  accompany  him,  as  if  pro- 
ceeding somewhere  by  his  orders.  On  arriving  at  the 
French  posts,  he  clapped  a  pistol  to  his  companion's 
ear  and  blew  out  his  brains.  He  rejoined  his  country- 
men, and  was  immediately  appointed  to  an  important 
post  in  the  army  of  Africa. 

The  renegade  whose  opinions  I  have  been  report- 
ing, saw  the  absurdity  of  the  attempt  to  change  the 
national  costume.  The  haik  and  other  clothing  of 
the  horsemen  might  appear  an  embarrassment,  though, 
in  fact,  it  was  not  so  to  them  ;  but  the  sulam  or  bor- 
noos  of  the  foot  soldiers  was  a  costume  rather  to  be 
adopted  by  other  nations  than  changed  by  the  Moors. 
The  most  interesting  part  of  the  conversation  was 
the  anxious  inquiries  they  made  respecting  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  Circassians,  of  which  vague  rumours  had 
reached  them  through  Egypt.  One  of  these  men  had 
been  with  the  Ai  Fatu,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
tribes,  numbering  thirty  thousand  horse.  The  Sultan 
has  built  several  fortresses  round  them,  but  the  most  of 
these  they  have  taken  and  destroyed. 

Their  mode  of  attack  is  this.  They  allot  certain 
portions  of  the  wall  to  the  different  tribes  or  families  ; 
they  then  advance  simultaneously  on  all  sides,  with 
bags  and  hurdles  to  fill  up  the  ditch,  and  make  a 
bridge  to  the  rampart.     Many  fall,  but  those  who  fol- 


330 


AN    ARAB   STORY 


low  march  on.  If  any  hang  back,  their  wives  are  taken 
from  them,  and  they  are  not  allowed  afterwards  to 
marry.  Here  is  the  Roman  testudo,  or  perhaps  the 
origin  of  it.  Their  cry  is,  "  Shields  to  the  wall."  They 
shave  their  beards. 

Speaking  of  the  difference  between  the  Arabs  and 
the  Turks,  this  story  was  told  by  one  of  the  former. 
When  Mahomet  left  this  world,  he  delivered  to  the 
Turks  a  standard,  and  to  the  Arabs  a  standard,  telling 
them  that  he  should  return  in  forty  years  to  require 
it  of  them.  Then  the  Arabs  took  their  standard  and 
cut  it  into  many  pieces,  and  each  man  put  his  piece 
by  in  his  breast  ;  but  the  Turks  took  care  of  the 
standard,  and,  making  a  chest  of  cypress-wood,  they 
put  upon  it  forty  locks,  and  they  laid  in  it  the  standard, 
and  gave  a  key  to  each  of  the  elders  of  the  forty 
tribes.  At  the  end  of  the  years  Mahomet  came  to 
the  Arabs,  and  said  :  "  Where  is  your  flag  ?  "  and  they 
all  called  out,  "  Here  it  is — here  it  is !  "  and  each 
man  put  his  hand  into  his  breast,  but  the  pieces  could 
not  fit ;  so  Mahomet  said  to  them,  "  Unworthy  ser- 
vants, the  empire  is  departed  from  you."  And  then 
he  went  to  the  Turks,  and  said  to  them,  "  Where  is 
your  flag  %  "  They  answered,  "  We  have  laid  it  by  ;  " 
and  he  said,  "Bring  it  forth."  So  they  called  the 
elders  together,  but  one  was  wanting.  So  he  said  to 
them,  "  This  is  a  pretence,  for  you  have  lost  the  flag;" 
and  they  said,  "  The  elder  is  gone  to  look  after  his 
flocks— an  elder  of  the  people  cannot  be  wanting. 
Come  again  to-morrow."      So  Mahomet  came  the  next 


OF   MAHOMET.  331 

day,  and  there  were  the  forty  elders  with  the  forty 
keys ;  so  they  opened  the  chest  and  brought  forth  the 
flag ;  and  Mahomet  said,  "  Good  and  faithful  servants, 
the  empire  is  taken  from  the  Arabs  and  given  unto 
you!" 


332  MULEY  ABDERACHMAN 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    SULTAN  :    HIS  COMMERCIAL    SYSTEM. 

Rabat,  Dec.  12th. 

I  find  it  was  not  the  Sultan  who  went  to  the 
mosque  last  Friday,  but  his  son.  To-day  I  saw  the 
real  potentate  overshadowed  by  the  Sheriffean  um- 
brella. He  wore  a  green  sulam,  with  a  white  sash  or 
turban  bound  over  it,  which  had  a  most  singular  effect. 
The  umbrella  was  carried  by  a  horseman  on  his  left. 
The  umbrella  is  of  the  ordinary  size,  but  the  spokes 
are  straight.  It  is  covered  with  crimson  velvet,  and 
has  a  depending  fringe  or  border.  Two  men  carried 
before  him  long  lances  upright,  to  spear  on  the  spot, 
as  I  was  told,  whomever  he  might  point  out  for  that 
purpose.  I  could  distinguish  through  my  glass  his 
broad  Mulatto  features,  as  he  inclined  right  and  left  to 
the  saluting  crowd.  As  for  two  Fridays  he  has  not 
been  to  mosque,  his  appearance  to-day,  and  his  look  of 
health,  have  occasioned  great  rejoicings.  Selam  said 
to  me,  "  Moors  not  like  English  —  look  much  to  king. 
—  English  king  die  ;  no  troubles  Gibraltar,  Malta — 
Moorish  king  die  ;  all  cut  one  another's  throats." 

Muley  Abderachman  has  reigned  twenty-three  years. 
He  had  been  employed  both  as  governor  and  minister, 


HIS   CHARACTER.  333 

and  was  assiduous  and  incorruptible.  He  was  origin- 
ally a  merchant  of  Larache,  where  the  loss  of  a  cargo 
first  made  him  known  to  the  late  Sultan,  his  uncle,  and 
he  gave  him,  in  consequence,  the  government  of  Moga- 
dore.  His  conduct  in  that  post  induced  the  Sultan  to 
appoint  him  his  successor,  as  being  worthier  to  reign 
than  any  of  his  own  sons.  He  was  not,  however, 
seated  on  the  throne  without  bloodshed,  and  the  com- 
mencement of  his  reign  was  marked  with  severity. 
His  authority  once  established,  his  previous  mildness 
reappeared.  He  is  fond  of  money,  and  no  one  ever 
knew  better  how  to  gratify  that  taste  ;  but  his  word 
is  inviolable,  and  he  is  no  less  orderly  than  upright  in 
his  commercial  dealings,  which  extend  to  every  por- 
tion of  his  kingdom.  Wise  in  small  matters,  he  is 
foolish  in  great  ones  ;  and  his  merits  render  tolerable, 
or  his  astuteness  sustains,  the  false  and  ruinous  com- 
mercial system  he  has  introduced. 

The  mountain  Breber  tribes  recognise  the  authority, 
but  do  not  admit  the  interference,  of  the  Sultans  of 
Morocco.  His  power  over  the  tribes  of  the  plain, 
whether  Breber  or  Arab,  apparently  severe  and  some- 
times terrible,  is  unequal  and  precarious  :  when  he 
punishes,  it  is  by  abandoning  the  tribe  to  the  ven- 
geance of  some  neighbouring  and  rival  clan.  Such  a 
state  of  things  seems  to  be  as  befitting  for  the  exercise 
of  his  talents,  as  his  talents  for  adjusting  them  to  his 
own  satisfaction. 

Morocco  is  isolated  from  the  world  :  on  the  west 
an  unapproachable  coast ;  on  the  east  and  south  an 


334  M.  CHENIER   ON   MOROCCO. 

impassable  desert.  It  has  no  neighbours  except  the 
Regency  of  Algiers.  Its  standing  policy  was  to  be  at 
war  with  Europe.  Muley  Ismael,  visiting  Tetuan,  ad- 
dressed the  body  of  council  who  had  come  to  com- 
pliment him,  in  these  words,  "It  is  my  pleasure  to 
be  at  war  with  all  Christendom,  except  England  and 
Raguza."  Yet  they  made  treaties  with  the  merchants 
of  the  states  with  which  they  were  not  figuratively,  but 
really  at  war.  M.  Chenier,  who  was  French  consul  fifty 
years  ago  at  Tangier,  has  written  the  best  work  upon 
Morocco.  He  confined  its  foreign  relations  to  Algiers  ; 
it  is  with  reference  to  that  Regency,  that  he  calculated 
its  military  force.  He  esteems  Morocco  the  weaker  of 
the  two,  and  in  danger  from  Algiers.  The  Turks  had 
invaded  Morocco  from  Algiers,  and  they  once  placed 
a  sovereign  on  the  throne  of  Fez,  but  that  was  long 
ago.  Foreign  relations  had  been  to  them  a  novelty, 
which  they  ought  not  to  be,  seeing  that  the  princes 
of  this  land  formerly  assumed  the  lofty  title  of  Emir 
al  Moslemin  ;  that  they  have  never  ceased  to  claim  the 
chieftainship  of  the  Arab  race,  and  have  never  con- 
descended to  sign  a  treaty  with  the  Sultans  of  Con- 
stantinople. Holding  the  Turks  as  usurpers  of  the 
Caliphat,  and  intruders  in  Africa,*''  they  stand  in  an 
anomalous  position  :  they  are  Sunis  who  opposed  the 
claims  of  Ali,  and  their  royal  house  derives,  or  pre- 
tends to  derive,  its  origin  from  Ali.     Muley  Abderach- 

*  At  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Kaniordgi  the  Moorish  Sultan, 
however,  addressed  Louis  XIV.  on  the  danger  to  Europe  of  so 
powerful  a  combination  directed  against  Turkey. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF   MOROCCO.  335 

man  has,  however,  shown  no  sign,  in  dealing  with  the 
foreign  difficulties  that  have  befallen  him,  of  that 
dexterity  which  he  has  evinced  in  domestic  matters. 
In  listening  to  the  details  of  his  weakness  and  pusilla- 
nimity, as  shown  on  recent  occasions,  I  have  been 
reminded  of  Louis  Philippe."'" 

The  feature  in  the  administration  of  this  country, 
or  rather  reign,  is  the  private  dealing  of  the  Emperor 
with  the  merchants.  He  remits  to  them  duties,  and 
makes  loans  of  money  without  interest.  He  allows 
them  to  export  and  import  without  paying  the  duties 
in  ready  money,f  and  they  go  on  in  the  face  of  an 
accumulating  debt,  speculating  on  credit.  The  goods 
are  bought  and  sold  at  what  would  be  a  loss,  if  the 
taxes  were  accounted  for ;  and  when  any  one  of  them 
is  unable  to  meet  his  engagements,  he  has  only  to  go 
to  the  Emperor  and  borrow,  and  thus  again  heap  up 
the  mass  of  engagements,  he  never  can  meet.  He  is 
encouraged  by  the  knowledge,  that  the  Emperor  never 
calls  a  creditor  to  account ; — the  settlement  comes 
only  on  his  dying  day.     It  is  not  trifling  sums  that 

*  In  the  terrors  and  alarms  which  followed  the  treaty  of  July 
1840,  one  of  his  ministers  thus  describes  the  scene  at  the  council : 
— "  Nous  etions  dix,  et  nous  n'en  savons  pas  plus  Tun  que  l'autre, 
et  il  y  avoit  le  roi,  qui  n'en  savoit  pas  plus  que  nous,  et  qui  sang- 
lottait."  (The  above  was  written  while  Louis  Philippe  was  still 
held  to  be  the  "  ablest  man  in  France,"  and  the  "  wiliest  politician 
in  Europe.") 

t  Those  who  pay  ready  money  have  25  per  cent,  discount 
allowed  them.  This  is  not  the  form,  but  the  substance  of  the 
tariff  regulations. 


336  customs'  duties  in  morocco. 

are  at  stake.  The  debt  of  the  English  agent  at 
Mogadore,  is  between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  pounds. 

These  concessions  of  credit,  the  loans  of  money  and 
the  granting  of  permits,  and  monopolies,  are  managed, 
not  with  a  view  to  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the 
sovereign,  but  for  political  ends.  By  these  means 
he  paralyzes  all  resistance  to  his  illegal  taxes  on 
trade  in  the  cities  whose  business  these  imposts  are 
considered  to  be.  This  ledger  management  of  a 
nation  is  an  effort  of  genius  worthy  of  Mehemet  Ali. 

Thefons  malorum,  here  as  elsewhere,  is  the  customs' 
duties.  They  have  everywhere  been  introduced  by 
evasion  and  fraud ;  for,  until  a  people  is  familiarised 
with  them,  they  are  too  monstrous  and  wicked  to  be 
argued  about.  In  Mussulman  countries  the  task  has 
been  more  difficult  than  with  us,  as  there  is  no  church 
property  with  which  to  bribe  public  assemblies,  and 
taxes  on  commerce  are  expressly  prohibited  by  the 
code  at  once  of  religion  and  government.  A  people 
so  tenacious  of  old  customs  as  the  Moors,  and  so  little 
disposed  to  imitate  Europe,  were  not  easily  brought 
under  on  such  a  point,  and  their  recent  history  affords 
two  instances  of  revolts  occasioned  by  illegal  taxation. 
The  first  revolt  was  in  1774,  when  the  principal  citi- 
zens of  Fez  (an  unprotected  city)  thus  addressed  the 
Sultan,  Sidi  Mahomet : — 

"  The  city  of  Fez  means  not  to  disobey,  nor  ever 
could  so  mean ;  but  the  taxes  laid  on  provisions, 
and  the  increase  of  duty  on  merchants,  and  which 
the   Mussulmans"    (the   term   is   analogous   to    "the 


THE  REVENUE  OF  MOROCCO.       337 

country "  with  us)  "  regard  as  contrary  to  custom  and 
religion,  were  considerations  that  to  so  great  and 
so  religious  a  prince  might  excuse  the  general  murmur 
and  discontent." 

No  punishments  followed  the  suppression  of  this 
rebellion,  and  the  taxes  were  abandoned.  "  Snuff 
was  farmed,  and  an  octroi  placed  on  commodities 
per  load,  as  they  enter  and  go  out  of  towns,  or  pass 
ferries ;  a  stamp  was  put  on  woollen  stuffs,  and  on 
all  the  trinkets  made  by  goldsmiths.  The  governors 
of  the  towns  farm  these  taxes  at  a  fixed  sum,  by 
which  they  very  seldom  are  gainers.  These  new 
imposts  are  considered  among  the  Moors  as  innova- 
tions, contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Koran.  These 
taxes  produced  a  revolt  at  Mequinez  in  1778,  but  it 
was  put  down  by  the  black  guard  of  the  Emperor." 

Chenier,  whom  I  quote,  distinguishes  the  revenues 
into  ancient  and  modern,  the  ancient  being  the  tenths, 
the  capitation  tax  (tribute)  of  the  Jews,  the  profits  of 
coining,  arbitrary  impositions  ;  the  modern  being  the 
obnoxious  duties  and  octroi.  He  highly  commends 
the  ancient  system  :  the  tithes  he  considers  profitable 
to  the  Government,  and  not  onerous  to  the  people 
(of  course,  he  is  mentally  instituting  the  comparison 
with  Europe,  because  paid  in  kind.  "  He  who  grows 
ten  bushels  of  corn  pays  one,  without  any  retrospect 
or  inquiry  concerning  a  more  abundant  harvest,  which 
presents  an  example  of  justice  among  barbarous  states 
well  worthy  the  imitation  of  the  more  civilized." 

The  collection  was  easy,  because,  being  united  in 

vol.  i.  z 


338  POLICY   OF   THE   SULTAN. 

bodies,  they  watched  each  other,  and  prevented  fraud. 
Being  paid  in  kind,  the  Sultan  had  magazines  in 
the  great  provincial  towns  to  store  these  revenues, 
and  sent  to  market  the  residue,  after  maintaining  his 
palaces,  soldiers,  and  dependants  ;  consequently,  there 
were  no  currency  troubles.  The  present  Sultan,  by 
making  the  merchants  his  debtors,  has  converted  the 
guardians  of  common  rights  into  his  satellites  ;  and 
finding  his  account  in  remitting  the  payment  of  the 
customs,  and  allowing  himself  to  be  defrauded  of  what 
we  should  esteem  a  legitimate  revenue,  he  has  so  far 
succeeded.  Customs  are  looked  upon  as  the  affairs  of 
the  merchants,  and  the  merchants  are  all  foreigners 
and  infidels.  Taxes  are  then  arbitrarily  imposed  on 
trade — monopolies  are  granted,  and  the  whole  produc- 
tion of  the  country  is  paralysed  and  subjected  to  a 
foreign  influence,  which  they  cannot  indeed  unravel, 
but  against  which  there  is  a  deep  and  universal  sense 
of  reprobation.  It  is  not  from  Europe  that  they  will 
learn  the  secret  of  the  ancient  well-being  of  so  many 
states  and  empires,  which  were  great  without  parlia- 
mentary votes  and  political  economists. 


FINANCE    OFFICERS    OF    RABAT.  339 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE    IN   RABAT. 

The  civil  government  of  Rabat  is  vested  in  the  Caid, 
whose  functions  I  have  already  described.  The  finan- 
cial officers  are  the  Emirs  of  the  custom-house,  the 
chief  of  whom  is  called  the  Administrador,  and  which, 
from  that  title,  seems  to  have  supplanted  the  original 
municipal  Government ;  the  Mehatzib,  an  officer  ap- 
pointed to  fix  the  price  of  provisions,  and  to  stamp 
goods  publicly  sold ;  and  the  Nadir,  or  administrator 
of  the  Sultan's  property,  which  consists  in  the  houses 
and  gardens  he  comes  into  possession  of  on  the  demise 
of  his  debtors,  by  which  means  he  has  extinguished 
in  part,  and  is  in  process  of  extinguishing,  the  ancient 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  town.  There  is  no  con- 
fiscation in  Rabat  for  any  crime  ;  but  by  the  custom- 
house system  he  is  becoming  the  proprietor  of  all  the 
property.  The  Nadir  has  from  these  funds  to  pay  the 
poor  Talebs,  or  learned  men,  which  absorbs  a  great 
portion  of  the  profits.  There  is  a  Beit  ul  Mai,  or 
public  treasury.  The  judicial  power  belongs  of  right 
to  the  Caid,  or  to  him  who  is  next  in  dignity  to  the 
Caid.     The  office  is  well  known  in  Turkey,  but  here 

7.2 


340   "THE  moors'  church  government." 

he  belongs  to  no  independent  body,  and  exercises 
but  slender  influence  :  it  has  not,  however,  been 
always  so.  Mr.  Addison,  a  chaplain  of  Charles  IT., 
and  some  time  at  Tangier  during  the  English  occu- 
pation, thus  speaks  of  what  he  calls  "The  Moors' 
Church  Government." 

"  They  have  in  every  cavila  (or  county)  an  Alcalib 
or  high-priest,  in  whose  nomination  the  secular  power 
doth  not  at  all  interpose,  for  he  is  chosen  out  of  and 
by  the  Alfaques,  and  invested  with  power  to  depose  or 
otherwise  chastise  the  offending  clergy.  Immediately 
upon  this  arch-priest's  election,  he  is  possessed  of  the 
Giamma  Gheber,  or  Great  Church,  wherein  upon  every 
Friday  he  expounds  some  text  of  the  Alchoran,  unto 
which  exercise  he  always  goes  accompanied  with  the 
chief  personages  of  the  neighbourhood.  This  eminent 
churchman  is  seldom  seen  in  public  but  at  this  exer- 
cise. For,  to  make  himself  the  more  reverenced,  he 
affects  retirement,*  spending  his  hours  in  the  study  of 
the  Alchoran,  and  in  resolving  such  cases  as  the  laity 
present  him,  who  esteem  his  resolutions  as  infallible  ; 
and  this,  with  a  careful  inspection  into  the  deportment 
of  the  inferior  clergy,  doth  constitute  the  office  and 
government  of  the  Alcalib.  As  for  his  revenues,  they 
are  suitable  to  his  condition  ;  and  as  to  his  life,  it  is 

*  El  que  hoy  vive  en  Tetuan   es  un  hombre  en  el  exterior 
modestissimo,  muy  mortificado  en  los  ojos  ;  humilde  en  las  pala- 
bras,  curitativo  con  los  pobres  y  nunca  permiti  a  sus  manos  el 
coiilacto   physico   de   el     dinero. — Mescon,    Hislorial   de   Mar 
rueccos,  1.  i.  p.  25. 


THEIR  JUDICIAL    PROCEEDINGS.  341 

austere  and  reserved,  he  affecting  a  peculiar  gravity  in 
all  his  carriage.  Every  Alcalib  has  his  distinct  diocese, 
out  of  which  he  has  no  power,  so  that  the  Alcalib  of 
Beni  Aros  hath  nothing  to  do  in  Minkel,  for  every  one 
is  absolute  in  his  own  cavila." 

Mr.  Addison  gives  the  following  interesting  details 
respecting  their  judicial  proceedings  : — 

"Here's  no  intriguing  the  plea  with  resolutions, 
cases,  precedents,  reports,  moth-eaten  statutes,  &c.  ; 
but  everything  is  determined  according  to  the  fresh 
circumstances  of  the  fact,  and  the  proof  of  which  is 
alleged.  The  testimony  of  two  men,  if  they  are  o£ 
known  sobriety,  is  sufficient  to  make  good  the  allega- 
tion, but  there  must  be  twelve  to  ratify  it,  if  their 
conversation  be  suspected. 

"  In  taking  the  testimony  of  a  Moor  upon  oath,  the 
servant  of  the  Alcaldee  carries  the  deponent  to  the 
Giamma  or  Mosch,  where,  in  the  presence  of  the  Al- 
caldee, lie  swears  by  that  holy  place  that  he  will 
declare  all  that  he  knows  concerning  the  matter  to 
which  he  is  to  give  evidence ;  but  oaths  are  never 
administered  to  any  in  another  man's  case  but  such 
as  are  suspected  persons,  and  they  are  usually  num- 
bered among  the  rogues  and  faithless,  who  have  no 
credit  without  them.  Besides,  it  is  never  permitted 
for  a  man  to  swear  in  his  own  case  but  for  want  of 
witnesses,  or  when  the  accusation  is  of  that  nature 
that  the  impeached  cannot  otherwise  receive  purga- 
tion :  as  for  the  Christian  and  Jew,  they  are  suffered 
to  give  testimony  according  to  the  rites  and  customs 


342         RECOVERY  OF  DEBTS,  AND 

of  their  own  religions,  but  the  Moors  are  not  forward 
to  put  them  upon  this  trial,  as  doubting  that  fear  of 
punishment  should  tempt  them  to  perjury  ;  and  those 
who  are  thereunto  accessory  (according  to  the  Moresco 
principle),  are  involved  in  the  guilt. 

"  In  pleas  of  debt  it  is  required  that  the  reality  of 
the  debt  be  first  manifest,  which  being  done  before 
the  Alcaldee,  he  signifies  it  to  the  Almocadem  of  the 
cavila  where  the  debtor  lives,  who,  upon  his  signifi- 
cation, commands  a  present  payment  to  be  made  ; 
but  if  the  debtor  refuse,  or  be  unable,  to  give  the 
jpreditor  satisfaction,  the  Almocadem  remits  him  to 
the  alhabs  or  prison,  which  is  always  near  the  Almo- 
cadem's  house,  where  he  stays  till  bailed  thence  by 
sufficient  sureties,  or  personally  pays  the  debt." 

The  following  on  the  same  subject  is  from  the 
ponderous  records  of  the  Franciscan  Friars  : — 

"  It  is  customary  for  all  the  chief  priests  and  doctors 
of  law  to  assemble  with  the  other  great  people  of  the 
town,  and  for  the  Mufti  or  Cadi  to  read  aloud  to  the 
Emperor  a  short  recapitulation  of  some  of  the  laws  of 
the  Koran,  which  direct  that  he  shall  preserve  the 
empire,  administer  speedy  justice,  protect  the  innocent, 
destroy  the  wicked  ;  and  so  far  from  countenancing 
and  keeping  near  his  sacred  person  any  adulterer,  that 
he  shall  punish  adultery,  prevent  the  exportation  of 
corn  and  provisions  to  the  prejudice  of  the  people,  tax 
provisions  according  to  their  plenty  or  scarcity,  and 
forbid  usury  to  be  exercised  towards  the  poor,  which  is 
an   abomination  before  God.     He  is  told  that  if  he 


JUSTICE   IN    MOROCCO.  343 

breaks  these  articles,  he  shall  be  punished  as  he  ought 
to  punish  others." 

These  extracts  will  show  that  Morocco  is  not  now 
without  some  rule  for  the  present,  and  some  respectable 
vestiges  of  the  past.  There  are  other  functionaries 
of  the  city,  whose  origin  ascends  to  an  earlier  period 
than  the  Mussulman  times.  They  are  public  notaries, 
called  Edules ;  no  doubt  the  Roman  edile.  Before 
them  sales  are  effected,  and  deeds  executed. 

The  present  practice  I  shall  give  as  I  have  been  able 
to  collect  it.  The  initiatory  steps  are  by  documents 
drawn  up  by  Edules — these  have  the  conjoint  cha- 
racters of  petition,  affidavit,  and  verdict  (in  the  old 
sense).  The  Plaintiff's  case  is  stated — he  signs  it. 
His  witnesses  then  sign,  if  they  agree  with  his  state- 
ment of  facts,  or  state  in  what  they  differ.  Then 
follow  signatures  as  vouching  for  the  Plaintiff  or 
Defendant,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  witnesses,  or  the 
other  signees.  This  act  is  then  verified  by  the  Edules, 
as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  signatures.  Furnished 
with  this  document,  the  petitioner  proceeds  to  the 
judge,  the  governor,  or  the  Sultan.  He  is  met  by  a 
counter  document.  The  Judge,  after  perusing  these, 
proceeds  to  try  the  case  by  oral  testimony,  and  with- 
out intervention  of  legal  practitioners.  The  document 
is  called  El  Bra,  which  is  very  near,  Brief.*  This 
is  evidently  the  origin  of  the  Spanish  mode  of  pro- 
cedure  by   Escribanos.     Among    the    Spaniards   the 

*  No  word  has  given  rise  to  wilder  speculation  than   C<trt<t, 
paper.      The  \\"i<l  li'iv  is  caret. 


344  ADMINISTRATION  OF 

oral  proceedings  are  suppressed,  and  those  which  are 
the  preliminary  steps  only  in  the  Moorish  courts,  con- 
stitute the  whole  proceeding.  The  Edules  have  be- 
come agents  to  the  parties,  as  well  as  public  notaries; 
so  that  the  case  of  each  party  is  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  agents  of  the  other.  Thus,  notwithstanding 
excellent  laws,  the  Spanish  Courts  have  been  con- 
verted into  labyrinths  of  intrigue.  The  Moorish 
system,  which  exhibits  the  origin  of  the  Spanish 
aberrations,  still  retains  the  celerity  of  oral  proceed- 
ings, with  the  advantage  of  record,  and  combines  the 
responsibility  of  a  Judge  with  the  uses  of  a  Jury. 
In  fact,  it  differs  little  from  the  ancient  institution 
of  the  Jury  in  Britain,  which  gave  their  verdict  on 
the  common  repute  of  the  parties,  and  not  on  the 
facts  of  the  case  ;  though  it  does  not  leave  to  them 
the  faculty  either  of  condemnation  or  expurgation. 
I  look,  of  course,  to  the  system,  as  what  it  would  be 
if  duly  executed  ;  and  it  was,  no  doubt,  the  foun- 
dation of  that  prompt  justice  which  characterised  the 
Mussulman  government  in  Spain,  and  made  Algiers 
a  model  for  quick,  gratuitous,  and  impartial  adjudi- 
cation, until  its  capture  by  the  French. 

When  any  one  is  assaulted  or  insulted  in  the  streets, 
or  in  any  way  injured  in  public,  and  he  appeals  to  the 
Caid  :  his  appeal  is  rejected  unless  he  brings  as  wit- 
nesses those  who  were  present ;  but  he  has  the  power 
of  compelling  their  presence — he  has  but  to  cry  out,  "  I 
seek  justice,"  and  every  one  within  hearing  must  quit 
whatever  occupation  they  are  engaged  in,  and  secure 


JUSTICE   IN   MOROCCO.  345 

the  offender.  If  they  refuse  or  neglect,  they  become 
immediately  principals,  and  the  injured  person  has  his 
remedy  against  each  and  all. 

It  is  to  this  rule  —  an  extended  "view  of  frank 
pledge,"*  —  that  the  tranquillity  and  security  of  the 
towns  amongst  so  turbulent  a  population  is  to  be 
attributed  ;  and  whatever  partiality  there  may  be  in 
governors,  there  is  no  apprehension  of  false  testimony 
among  the  people. 

The  office  of  king,  in  Morocco,  is  specially  that  of 
Grand  Justiciary.  The  king  himself  is  the  fountain 
of  justice.  There  is  the  utmost  freedom  of  appeal  to 
him  from  or  against  the  Ca'id ; — he  will  stop  in  the 
streets,  and  administer  summary  justice  while  sitting 
on  horseback;  and  when  any  supplicant  appears  at  his 
gate,  however  humble,  of  whatever  race  or  faith,  and 
pronounces  the  words,  "  The  God  of  Justice,"  he  is 
admitted  to  his  presence  ;  the  order  is  given  for  the 
council  to  be  filled  ;  the  secretaries  appear  in  their 
places,  and  the  petitioner  states  his  or  her  case,  and 
justice  is  immediately  done.  While  he  has  been  here, 
two  hours  have  been  daily  consecrated  to  this  duty  ; 
and  this  I  imagine  to  be  the  secret  of  those  constant 
peregrinations  of  the  Emperor  of  Morocco,  and  their 

*  At  Mequinez,  a  man  having  found  something  in  the  streets, 
caused  it  to  be  proclaimed,  in  order  that  the  owner  might  come 
and  receive  his  property.  Muley  Ismael  sent  for  him,  and  thus 
addressed  him.  "  You  do  not  deserve  death,  for  you  are  not  a 
robber ;  but  as  I  wish  all  my  subjects  to  know  that  the  proper 
way  to  have  things  returned  to  their  rightful  owners  is  by  leaving 
them  where  they  are,  I  must  make  an  example  of  you." 


346  MOORISH   SAINTS. 

extraordinary  effect  in  quelling  insurrections  and  quiet- 
ing the  country ;  whilst,  by  the  heavy  exactions  with 
which  they  are  accompanied,  they  might  appear  calcu- 
lated to  produce  the  very  contrary  effect.  A  "  progress 
of  the  king,"  is  the  constant  specific  in  Morocco  for 
disturbance — there  is  always  disturbance  where  he  has 
not  for  a  long  time  appeared  ;  and  he  always  manages 
to  subdue  it. 

The  designation  of  the  court  of  Morocco  is  El 
Haznee,  or  the  treasury.  The  title  of  the  Minister 
of  Finance  in  Spain  to  day  is  Haciendu.  Haznee  is 
treasury  or  possessions  —  the  two  terms  are  synony- 
mous, and  one  is  derived  from  the  other  :  the  one 
briefly  explains  in  Morocco  the  purposes  of  govern- 
ment, and  in  Spain  its  necessities.  Our  word  maga- 
zine comes  from  Mai  Haznee,  or  treasury  of  wealth. 
How  surprised  the  legitimate  owners  of  the  terms 
would  be,  if  they  knew  the  contents  of  the  periodicals 
to  which  we  apply  it. 

It  is  impossible  to  conclude  this  subject  of  govern- 
ment without  mention  of  the  saints.  What  constitutes 
a  saint  no  one  can  tell :  they  are  of  both  sexes  and 
all  ages,  of  every  class  and  rank,  from  the  madman  to 
the  philosopher,  from  the  fanatic  to  the  infidel,  and 
from  the  mischievous  and  wicked  to  the  humane  and 
benevolent.  I  met  a  man  with  wool  on  his  head,  and 
a  long  stave  in  his  hand,  chanting  forth  a  ditty  at  the 
top  of  his  strained  voice.  This  was  a  saint,  and  the 
soldiers  made  me  move  aside,  for  fear  he  should  make 
a  rush  at  me.     They  took  the  man  for  a  madman  ;  he 


MOORISH    SUPERSTITIONS.  347 

was  none.  There  was  some  time  ago  at  Tangier,  a 
female  saint,  who  went  about  entirely  naked  :  every 
morning  she  took  from  the  market-people  wood,  and 
laying  it  in  a  circle  made  a  fire  and  seated  herself  in 
the  middle.  There  are  respectable  families  where 
saintship  is  hereditary  :  these  bury  the  saints  when 
they  die,  in  their  own  houses.  In  these  saints  are  to 
be  found  traces  at  once  of  the  asceticism  of  early  Chris- 
tianity, which  had  its  birth  in  Africa,  and  of  those 
practices  which,  in  the  still  earlier  times  of  Polytheism, 
rendered  Africa  a  scandal  and  wonder  to  the  rest  of 
the  world.* 

Since  the  introduction  of  Islamism,  the  superstitions 
of  a  country,  in  early  times  the  most  fertile  in  mon- 
sters and  chimeras,  have  been  associated  with  that 
faith,  and  have  produced  that  strange  veneration  of 
dead  saints  and  sanctification  of  living  fools,  which  is 
without  parallel  elsewhere ;  and  weaving  themselves 
into  the  religious  forms  of  a  people  whose  civil  govern- 
ment is  derived  from  its  sacred  writings,  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  doctrines  of  the  one,  and  revolutions 
of  the  other  is  effaced,  and  thus  do  we  find  the  names 
of  dynasties  derived  from  the  denomination  of  sects. 

All  the  great  dynasties,  save  one,  have  begun  with 
saints  or  preachers.     Fez  and  Morocco  were  built  by 

*  I  refer  to  the  orgies  practised  among  the  polished  Cartha- 
ginians, and  better  known  as  belonging  to  the  worship  of  the 
Cyprian  Venus,  and  which  are  reported  by  credible  witnesses 
as  of  public  occurrence  at  no  remote  period  in  Barbary,  on  the 
part  alike  of  male  and  female  saints. 


348  MODE   OF  OPERATION   BY 

followers  of  teachers  who  settled  around  their  cells 
to  listen  to  their  words,  and  share  in  the  repose  that 
resulted,  if  not  from  the  justice  they  administered,  at 
least  from  the  respect  which  they  inspired.  They  died, 
as  they  had  lived,  teachers  and  preachers.  On  the  son 
of  the  one  —  on  the  posthumous  child  of  the  other  — 
the  surviving  gratitude  of  the  people  bestowed  the 
title  and  authority  of  prince.  The  title  of  the  pre- 
sent emperor  is  merely  the  designation  of  an  officer 
of  the  law.  That  character  alone  should  give  to  a 
man  control  over  the  multitude  and  authority  over 
the  monarch  —  make  his  house  a  sanctuary  for  the 
malefactor,  and  himself  a  guarantee  of  safety  to  a 
caravan,  is  a  wonderful  thing.  Their  religious  es- 
tablishment has  served  to  repair  wrongs  and  to 
avert  calamities,  and  even  at  the  present  moment 
it  mitigates  rudeness  and  restrains  power. 

One  of  the  tribes  of  necromancers  seems  to  possess 
some  secret  which  protects  them  against  the  bite  of 
the  most  venomous  serpent.*  An  exhibition  of  this 
kind  I  have  failed  to  see,  this  not  being  the  season  of 
the  year.  They  attribute  diseases  to  the  presence  of 
evil  spirits  —  they  fear  the  evil  eye,  and  against  these 
the   remedy   is  writing  on  pieces  of  paper  and  amu- 

*  These  are  the  Psylli  of  the  ancients.  The  same  gift  was 
enjoyed  by  the  Marses  in  Italy,  and  the  Opheogines  in  Cyprus 
possessed  it ;  the  former  pretended  to  derive  it  from  the  en- 
chantress Circe,  the  latter  from  a  virgin  of  Phrygia  united  to 
a  Sacred  Dragon. — See  A.  Gell.  Noct.  Attic,  1.  ix.  c.  13,  et  1. 
xvi.  c.  2.  Strabo,  1.  xiii. ;  iElian  De  Nat.  Animal,  1.  i.  c.  57, 
et  1.  xii.  c.  39. 


THE   NECROMANCERS.  349 

lets,  a  practice  derived  from  or  connected  with  the 
writing  by  the  Jews  of  portions  of  Scripture  on  paper, 
binding  it  on  the  foreheads  and  arms,  and  insert- 
ing them  in  holes  in  the  door-posts.  Anybody  per- 
forms this  service  of  writing  on  pieces  of  paper,  and  in 
the  Dunus  when  I  have  refused  to  prescribe,  or  had 
nothing  to  give,  the  patient  has  been  taken  to  the 
Scheik,  who  immediately  furnished  at  once  a  prescrip- 
tion and  dose  with  his  reed.  The  learned  in  the  art 
are  from  Suz  —  they  are  called  Tolmas,  and  walk  in 
secret,  making  an  equal  mystery  of  themselves  and 
their  necromancies  ;  poor  and  wandering,  and  refusing 
remuneration.  They  generally  exact  a  promise  of 
secrecy  before  they  exert  their  art. 

By  the  account  which  I  have  heard,  it  is  with  them 
also  the  pen  and  scraps  of  paper,  but  their  mode  of 
using  them  is  different.  As  they  write  they  throw 
their  prescriptions  into  a  brazier,  and  go  on  thus  in- 
creasing the  power  of  the  incantation — but  into  the 
brazier  is  first  thrown  incense.  In  the  shops,  incense, 
or  plants,  or  leaves  producing  sweet  odours,  occupy  a 
considerable  amount  of  space.  The  Pharmacopolists 
exceed  all  conceivable  proportion.  The  operation  of 
their  drugs  upon  the  human  body  appears  chiefly  to  be 
through  the  nose,  and  by  means  of  the  chafing-dish. 
The  plants  and  gums  are  supposed  to  possess  distinct 
qualities  and  virtues.  Thus,  in  ancient  Polytheism, 
different  incense  was  offered  to  different  divinities. 
Vervain  had  magical  power  for  Greeks,  Romans,  and 
Druids  ;  it  has  so  still  for  cats.     A  plant  is  particu- 


350  THE   TOLMA   AND 

larly  mentioned  —  Cynospastes*  —  by  the  smoke  of 
which  epilepsy  was  cured,  and  demons  were  expel- 
led. The  plant  Barras,  was  similarly  used  by  the 
Hebrews. f  It  is  supposed,  to  be  one  of  the  Alga?, 
which  contains  prussic  acid.  Amongst  the  Jews,  death 
was  the  penalty  for  compounding  the  incense  that 
was  used  in  the  Temple.  In  the  story  of  Balaam,  we 
find  incantations  mixed  with  the  worship  of  Jehovah. 

The  Tolmas  are  applied  to  in  cases  of  disease  ;  for 
the  recovery  of  stolen  goods  ;  that  they  "  may  not  be 
seen  when  burying  their  money ;  for  gaining  the  affec- 
tion of  individuals,  but  chiefly  for  casting  out  devils. 
The  consulting  party  states  his  case ;  the  Tolman 
writes,  and  throws  the  paper  in  the  fire,  and  after  a 
time  tells  him  that  the  disorder  will  or  will  not  be 
cured,  and  in  what  time  and  manner,  or  what  he  is 
to  do — that  the  stolen  property  has  been  taken  by  a 
certain  individual,  or  by  a  man  of  such  a  form  and 
appearance — that  at  a  certain  time  he  will  be  moved 
by  remorse  to  restore  it — that  in  such  a  day  or  place 
he  will  be  found  selling  it,  &c.  Stories  of  the  casting 
out  of  devils  take  the  place  of  our  ghost  stories ; — I 
will  give  one  as  a  specimen. 

A  party  of  Jews  were  amusing  themselves  in  a  gar- 
den near  Tangier  ;  one  of  them,  a  butcher,  fell  into  a 
pond.     When  he  was  drawn   out,  he  was  in  violent 

*  JElian  de  Nat.  Animal,  1.  iv.  c.  27.  It  was  also  called  Aglao- 
photis,  and  has  a  flame-coloured  flower,  supposed  at  night  to  emit 
flashes.     It  is  the  Atropa  Belladonna. 

t  Josephus,  De  Bello  Jud.  1.  vii.  c.  25. 


THE    POSSESSED  JEW.  351 

contortions— he  had  been  seized  by  a  spirit.  A  Tol- 
ma  was  sent  for.  Having  cut  a  reed  of  the  length 
a  man  could  hold  between  the  palms  of  his  hands 
with  his  arms  stretched  out,  he  made  it  to  be  so  held 
by  one  of  the  party  ;  then  addressing  the  devil,  asked 
who  he  was.  The  devil,  speaking  by  the  mouth  of  the 
man  in  convulsions,  answered,  that  he  would  tell  him 
neither  his  name,  nor  that  of  his  tribe,  nor  that  of  his 
father,  nor  that  of  his  mother,  but  only  that  he  was  a 
Jew.  The  Tolma  asked,  why  he  had  entered  into  this 
man !  The  devil  answered,  that  he  was  at  the  bottom 
of  the  lake  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  that  the 
butcher  had  fallen  in  and  killed  one  of  his  sons  ;  and 
that  now  he  would  not  leave  him  until  he  had  taken 
his  life.  While  this  conversation  was  going  on,  the 
reed  was  shortened  in  the  hands  of  the  man  who 
held  it,  and  the  Tolma  declared  that  power  was  given 
to  the  spirit  over  the  man.  Incantations  were  vain, 
but  he  continued  to  write  on  paper,  and  to  throw  the 
scraps  into  the  brazier;  and  as  he  did  so,  the  reed 
shortened  and  shortened,  and  the  man's  frenzy  be- 
came wilder,  and  then  his  strength  decayed,  and  sud- 
denly the  hands  of  the  man  who  held  the  reed  closed 
together,  and,  at  the  same  moment,  the  possessed 
expired. 

When  the  incantation  is  powerful  enough  to  subdue 
the  spirit,  he  implores  liberty  to  be  released,  and  to 
go  into  some  other  body,  and  then  the  enchanter  will 
not  suffer  him  until  he  has  bound  himself  by  an  oath 
never  to  enter  the  same  man  again,  nor  to  come  near 


352    ,  CURE   OF   ONE   POSSESSED. 

a  certain  place,  and  then  asks  him  whether  he  chooses 
to  go  out  by  fire  or  water.  A  basin  of  the  one  and 
the  other  is  accordingly  brought,  into  one  of  which 
the  spirit  is  supposed  to  plunge,  and  then  the  patient 
speaks  in  his  own  voice,  and  recovers  as  if  from  a 
trance. 

The  chaplain  of  Tangier,  while  it  was  held  by  the 
English,  gives  us  the  following  narrative  : — 

"  One  of  my  soldiers,  an  Issowi,  was  seized  with  the 
devil :  it  took  four  men  to  hold  him  down,  and  pre- 
vent him  jumping  over  the  battlements.  He  then 
broke  away  from  us,  and  throwing  himself  on  the 
ground  began  tearing  himself :  I  never  saw  anything 
so  explanatory  of  the  account  in  Scripture.  The  cure 
is  as  curious  as  the  disease.  They  burn  some  benzoin 
under  the  nose  of  the  patient,  which  quiets  him  for  a 
time  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  fumes  cease,  he  breaks  out 
again,  and  lays  hold  of  everything  within  his  reach  : 
in  some  cases  he  has  been  known  to  destroy  children. 
This  poor  creature  ate  several  pieces  of  paper,  and 
bits  of  lime  and  dirt ;  but  when  the  words  '  Sidi  Benel 
Abbas,  Sidi  Abd-el-Kadir/  &c,  were  pronounced,  his 
hands,  which  had  been  firmly  closed,  were  opened  :  his 
companions  then  called  upon  Abil  to  say  the  Fatihah, 
in  which  all  joined,  when  he  came  to  himself,  although 
he  appeared,  and  talked,  like  a  child  for  some  minutes ; 
after  which  he  quite  recovered/' 


CLIMATE   OF   RABAT.  353 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONNEXION   BETWEEN    MAURITANIA   AND    AMERICA.       - 

Rabat,  Dec.  17th. 
The  thermometer,  in  a  room  where  the  sun  never 
shines,  stands  nearly  at  temperate.  During  twenty 
days,  we  have  only  had  two  days  of  bad  weather  :  it 
is  hot  in  the  sun,  and  cold  at  night.  The  days  and 
nights  are  of  resplendent  beauty,  with  almost  always 
a  cloudless  sky  towards  evening.  The  landscape  up 
the  river  has  a  delicacy  of  colouring  as  peculiar  as 
beautiful.  At  night  the  moon  is  so  brilliant,  that 
stars  only  of  the  third  magnitude  are  visible.  Walk- 
ing on  the  top  of  the  house,  for  here  one  leads  a 
cat-like  life — always  on  the  roof — it  is  like  a  mixture 
of  summer  and  winter.  The  houses  around  seem  in 
their  whiteness  as  if  under  a  load  of  snow ;  above, 
there  is  a  summer  sky,  and  around,  verdant  hills  and 
fields.  I  gathered  in  a  garden  a  branch  of  a  pear- 
tree  in  full  blossom,  though  the  rest  of  the  tree  was 
quite  dead;  and  flocks  of  swallows  were  disporting 
in  the  air,  making,  by  our  proverb,  a  summer  of 
December.  Yet,  during  this  time,  there  have  been 
disasters  upon  the  coast :  the  schooner  with  which  we 

VOL.  I.  A  A 


354  CONVERSATION   RESPECTING   A 

were  in  company  has  been  entirely  lost  at  Dar-el- 
Baida."* 

A  French  steam-vessel  of  war  has  also  been  lost, 
and  eighty  men  have  perished  :  this  is  the  second. 

The  representative  of  Muley  Idris  has  been  here 
several  times  :  the  last  time  he  came  alone,  and  said 
his  servants  and  baggage  were  waiting  for  him  at 
Salee,  where  he  was  going  to  join  them,  but  that  he 
had  come  first  to  bid  me  "  good-bye."  I  offered  him 
a  trifling  present — a  microscope  ;  he  said  he  could 
neither  eat  it  nor  wear  it,  and  rejected  it  with  dis- 
dain. I  said  I  had  nothing  less  unworthy  of  his  ac- 
ceptance ;  on  which  he  said,  "  Then,  give  me  money." 
I  was  aware  that  saints  cannot  ask  for  coin.  He 
next  cast  his  eyes  round  the  room,  and  said,  "I 
will  take  away  with  me  that  loaf  of  sugar."  I  inti- 
mated to  him  that  he  should  do  nothing  of  the  sort : 
he  instantly  dropped  the  saint  and  the  madman,  and 
we  parted  in  the  civilest  manner. 

I  was  consulted  as  to  sending  some  children  to  be 
educated  at  Paris  :  it  was  some  time  before  I  could 
believe  they  were  in  earnest.  On  my  dissuading 
them,  I  was  answered,  "  We  want  physicians,  chemists, 
astronomers,  mechanics,  miners,  makers  of  arms,  and 
instructed  men.  We  had  all  these  formerly,  and 
gave  these  sciences  to  Europe  :  why  should  we  not 
take  them  back  again  V  I  endeavoured  to  represent 
to  them  the  distinction  between  science  and  the  man- 

*  Another  vessel  was  also  off  the  port  twice,  and  twice  driven 
back  to  Gibraltar. 


EUROPEAN  EDUCATION  FOR  MOORS.    355 

ners  of  the  people  who  might,  in  any  particular  age, 
be  scientific ;  that,  if  they  could  take  the  science  of 
Europe  naked,  and  without  the  plague-garments  in 
which  it  was  at  present  dressed,  viz.  our  ideas,  morals, 
and  manners,  it  would  be  well.  But  they  were  not 
men  to  discriminate,  and,  certainly,  it  was  not  by 
children  that  the  separation  could  be  effected.  They 
told  me  that  the  Moorish  envoy,  who  was  recently 
at  Paris,  had  seen  an  Algerine  boy  highly  commended 
by  his  French  instructors,  who,  nevertheless,  nourished 
in  his  heart  almost  a  detestation  of  the  French  ; 
and  said  that  he  was  striving  to  acquire  the  know- 
ledge they  possessed  to  be  able  to  drive  them  out 
of  Africa.  I  pointed  out  the  difference  between  a 
captive  taken  in  war  and  children  voluntarily  sent  for 
instruction,  who  could  not  come  back  to  their  primi- 
tive life  but  to  look  with  contempt  on  their  fathers. 

Some  remarks  ensued,  which  showed  that  I  was 
suspected  of  jealousy  of  France,  so  I  had  to  argue 
the  point.  I  told  them,  that  if  I  coveted  their  land 
for  a  country,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  France  there, 
or  even  conquering  it,  for  it  would  fall  out  as  in  India 
and  America.  France  doing  everything  by  her  Go- 
vernment, as  they  said  in  Algiers,  she  always  had 
awakened  and  ever  must  arouse  such  an  amount  of 
animosity  against  her,  as  to  render  untenable  every 
conquest  effected  by  her  arms.  In  India,  France  had 
opened  the  way  ;  had  established  a  system  of  native 
government,  and  created  the  whole  of  those  imple- 
ments through  which  we  obtained  possession  of  India, 

a  a2 


356  THE  MEXICANS 

and  at  this  moment  retain  it.  The  English  Govern- 
ment itself  had  nothing  to  do  with  India.  A  company 
of  merchants  managed  it,  and  thereby  succeeded  the 
French.  In  America,  the  same  thing  had  happened 
twice  over.  "We  had  lost  our  colonies,  which  France 
could  not  take,  and  got  hers,  which  she  could  not 
keep.  The  New  World  presented  the  great  warnings, 
which  I  turned  to  account,  instancing  the  numerous 
population,  the  magnificent  cities,  the  industrious  and 
polished  races,  the  highly  cultivated  lands,  the  works 
of  irrigation,  and,  in  some  cases,  the  admirable  laws 
which  existed  until  the  European  came  with  his 
light,  and  science,  and  philanthropy — and  decay 
followed  his  steps :  his  rule  was  a  curse,  and  race 
after  race  has  been  exterminated. 

To  primitive  races,  national  genealogy  is  above  all 
things  attractive  ;  and  the  question  was  raised  as  to 
the  possible  blood  relationship  between  themselves  and 
the  Mexicans,  through  the  Phoenicians.  I  will  not 
rehearse  the  conversation,  but  cannot  at  once  dismiss 
the  subject. 

That  Western  world  may  have  had  its  beginning, 
its  progress,  its  multifarious  phases,  its  great  exist- 
encies,  its  long  life,  and  its  decay  in  the  same  way 
that  we  have  had  ours,  without  there  being  a  neces- 
sary connexion,  although  there  be  infinite  points  of 
resemblance  with  the  numerous  forms  and  accidents  of 
Egypt  and  Etruria,  of  India  and  Chaldea.  Still,  the 
objection  to  intercourse,  on  the  score  of  insuperable 
obstacles  in  the  navigation   of  the  oceans  on  either 


AND  PHOENICIANS.  357 

side,  appears  to  me  to  be,  in  a  philosophic  age,  the 
most  strange  of  hallucinations.  Every  dot  upon  the 
surface  of  the  water  has  been  found  occupied  by  the 
human  race,  and  there  have  been  indubitable  crossings, 
both  of  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic,  by  large  vessels  and 
junks,  and  by  small  boats  and  canoes.  The  tradition 
of  the  Atlantic  Islands  seems  an  indubitable,  though 
indistinct  trace,  amongst  the  Greeks,  of  a  Phoenician 
discovery.  If,  as  I  believe,  I  have  almost  succeeded 
in  showing  the  magnetic  needle  was  possessed  by 
that  people,  the  obstacles  to  the  crossing  the  At- 
lantic, and  to  continuous  intercourse,  are  still  further 
removed.  It  was  not,  however,  until  I  entered  the 
room  which  I  here  occupy,  that  I  perceived  direct 
proof  of  this  connexion.  There  hangs  up  an  orna- 
mented Table  of  the  Law,  such  as  is  common  in 
the  houses  of  the  Jews — that  mysterious  open  hand 
on  the  one  side  ;  on  the  other,  a  diagram,  which  oc- 
cupies a  prominent  place  in  the  symbols  of  Masonry, 
the  double  triangle.  It  is  also  a  cabalistic  and  astro- 
logical figure.  It  forms  five  points,  and  is,  I  believe 
(not  the  six-pointed  one),  the  proper  "  Solomon's 
seal."  They  could  give  no  explanation  of  its  meaning 
or  origin,  and  only  said,  "  It  has  been  always  so."  I 
find  this  same  sign  is  on  the  signet  of  the  Sultan,  and 
on  his  coin.  The  Moors  have  adopted  it  as  their 
arms.  They,  no  more  than  the  Jews,  can  tell  what  it 
means.  It  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  their  common  anti- 
quity. The  very  same  symbol  is  found  in  Mexico. 
Roads,  worthy  of  being   compared   to,   and  alone 


358  RESEMBLANCES   BETWEEN   THE 

rivalling  (by  the  confession  of  Humboldt)  those  of  the 
Romans  ;  pottery,  equalling,  and  resembling,  that  of 
the  Etruscans ;  resemblances  of  costume,  as  with  the 
head-dress  of  the  Etruscans  ;  instruments  of  music, 
the  double  flute  of  the  Curians — do  not  go  so  far  to 
indicate  a  connexion,  as  the  adoption  of  a  symbol  such 
as  this  ;  but  when  you  have  an  exact  correspondence 
in  a  peculiar  and  arbitrary  figure,  then  other  resem- 
blances may  be  admitted,  as  furnishing  corroborative 
proof  of  a  common  matrix,  if  not  for  the  races,  at 
least  for  their  arts. 

There  are,  however,  other  resemblances,  which  it 
would  require  a  vigorous  imagination  to  explain  by 
the  doctrine  of  coincidence.  Gladiators  contending 
with  the  Retiarius,  derived  by  the  Latins  from  the 
Etruscans ; — tombs,  like  the  Etruscan,  constructed  of 
enormous  heaps  of  earth,  upon  a  basement  of  masonry  ; 
mortar,  that  most  remarkable  discovery  of  the  Phoeni- 
cians ;  tapia,  or  the  mixture  of  mortar  and  clay ; — 
papyrus,  prepared  crosswise,  like  that  of  Egypt ;  and 
tesselated  pavements.  Again,  the  Mexican  year,  co- 
inciding with  the  Etruscan,  the  Mexican  being  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  five  hours,  and  fifty 
minutes;  the  Etruscan,  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
days,  five  hours,  and  forty  minutes.  There  are 
traces  of  unknown  characters  reported,  so  that  some 
people  who  used  letters  must  have  set  foot  upon 
that  continent.  The  buildings  are  almost  all  turned 
to  the  cardinal  points.  Mention,  in  two  instances, 
is  made  of  glass  and  of  enamel. 


PHOENICIANS   AND   MEXICANS.  359 

The  Mexicans  had  baths.  However  magnificent 
their  public  monuments,  these  were  not  on  that  scale 
which  corresponded  with  the  Roman  and  the  Greek 
Thermae,  but  such  as  are  found  in  almost  every  house 
in  Morocco  —  a  small  apartment,  seven  feet  square, 
with  a  cupola  roof,  five  to  six  feet,  and  a  slightly 
convex  flour,  under  one  side  of  which  there  is  a  fire, 
and  a  small,  low  door  to  creep  in  by. 

If  Phoenicians  found  their  way  across  the  Atlantic, 
they  would  have  taught,  amongst  the  first  things,  the 
bath  and  the  points  of  the  compass,  trinkets  of  glass, 
the  art  of  dyeing,  &c. ;  and  these  things  are  there, 
with  that  peculiar  mark  and  stamp  of  the  people  who 
have  specially  preserved  the  usages  of  the  ancient 
world.  Putting  together  these  things,  with  the  fact 
that  the  Phoenicians  were  the  navigators  exclusively  to 
the  West  and  to  the  East,  I  cannot  help  looking  upon 
America  as  within  the  range  of  their  enterprise,  and 
many  of  its  works  as  the  record  of  their  passage. 

Dec.  18th. 
In  this  country,  as  I  should  think  must  happen  in 
China,  the  attention  is  fixed  on  the  most  trivial  things  ; 
or,  rather,  the  importance  appears  of  things  held  to  be 
trivial.  One  feels  in  contact  with  the  world  in  its 
infancy  ;  as  if,  by  stretching  forth  the  hand,  you  could 
reach  the  source  of  the  earliest  inventions  for  supply- 
ing our  wants,  or  gratifying  our  desires.  I  can  only 
compare  it  to  a  museum  of  antiquities,  whether  in 
what  they  wear ;  what  they  do  ;  the  houses  they  in- 


360  CLEANLINESS   BEFORE 

habit ;  the  names  they  bear  ;  or  the  words  they  speak  ; 
— all  is  as  it  was  of  old.  Here,  too,  are  the  rudiments 
of  what  we  find  in  other  forms  elsewhere.  What  can 
be  more  striking  than  to  be  called,  as  I  was  myself  to- 
day, a  Nazarene  !  the  first  title  applied  to  the  Apostles 
by  the  Jews. 

By  the  exclusion  of  atmospheric  air,  the  most  deli- 
cate flower  may  be  handed  down  to  future  ages.  Here 
a  similar  process  seems  to  have  been  applied  to  man  : 
the  cause  of  change  is  excluded  in  the  one  case — 
change  itself  in  the  other :  elsewhere,  letters  graven 
upon  brass  and  marble,  are  our  guides  through  the 
evolution  of  ages ;  but  here  man  himself  is  the  un- 
dying and  unchangeable  record  of  himself. 

This  morning  I  was  watching  a  Negress  who  rejoiced 
in  the  Punic  name  of  Barca,  washing  and  cooking  in 
the  court  below.  Her  extreme  and  minute  cleanliness 
suggested  the  question  :  "  In  what  could  cleanliness 
have  consisted  before  the  discovery  of  soap  \ "  Soap 
comes  next  to  absolute  necessaries.  What  must  have 
been  the  condition  of  nations  without  either  soap  or 
the  bath  1  What  a  benefit  to  the  human  race  the 
discovery  of  either; — where  neither  was  known,  filth 
would  be  as  habitual  as  clothing :  there  could  be 
nothing  clean  or  unclean.  The  use  of  the  bath  must 
then  have  made  that  difference  between  one  people  and 
another,  that  exists  between  filthy  and  cleanly  animals, 
altering  their  very  nature.  Yet  I  could  not  tell  when 
it  was  discovered,  or  who  were  the  inventors.  Why 
should  it  alone   be  without   honour,   or   parentage  'i 


THE   DISCOVERY   OF    SOAP.  361 

Whence  its  name  ?  *  Our  word  is  from  the  Latin,  but 
soap  has  no  Latin  etymon.  The  name  is  not  derived 
from  the  Greek ;  it  has,  in  that  language,  no  corre- 
sponding term.  The  modern  Greeks  use  the  same — 
either  their  soap  has  travelled  eastward  since  the 
decline  of  the  Roman  Empire,  or  it  belongs  to  the 
East  at  an  earlier  time.  In  this  dilemma  I  apply  to 
Barca,  and  at  once  obtain  the  solution.  Soap,  in 
Arabic,  is  Saboon.  They  have  the  verb,  Sabein,  which 
does  not  mean  to  *  soap/  but,  to  '  wash.'  The  Arabs 
did  not  adopt  the  name  from  Rome,  and  coin  out 
of  it  a  verb  for  so  primitive  a  usage  as  washing. 

The  Moors  possessed  soap  made  to  their  hands,  mea- 
sured by  mountains,  and  cheaper  than  manure.  This 
substance  is  decomposed  flints,  or  soap-stone  :  it  is 
called  Gazule,  or  Razule  ;  it  polishes  the  skin,  makes 
it  soft,  and  gives  it  lustre.  It  abounds  on  the  river 
Seboo,  and  may,  when  exported,  have  got  that  name 
abroad.  It  is  not  fit  for  washing  clothes,  for  which 
purpose  they  have  a  primitive  soft  soap  like  that 
of  the  ancient  Celts— this  is  what  they  call  Saboun. 
The  first  mention  made  of  it  is  amongst  the  Gauls. 
The  Romans  had  so  little  acquaintance  with  it  in 
Pliny's  time,  that  he  thought  it  was  used  for  the  pur- 
pose of  turning  the  hair  red.  It  is  no  trifling  honour 
to  the  Gaulish  race,  looked  upon  as  barbarous,  that  the 
Romans  should  have  taken  from  them  beds  and  mat- 

*  Beckman  derives  it  from  an  old  German  word  sepe.  The 
German  word  is  at  present  seife,  evidently  the  same  as  the  French 
mi/,  and  the  English  suet. 


362  SUBSTITUTES   FOR   SOAP 

tresses,  jewellery,  and  soap.  "  Soap,"  says  Pliny,  4'  is 
an  invention  of  the  Gauls  to  colour  the  head  yellow  :  it 
is  made  of  tallow  and  ashes.  The  best  which  they 
make  is  of  beech  wood  ashes  and  goat's  suet,  and  it  is 
made  in  two  ways,  either  thick  and  hard,  or  liquid  and 
soft ;  but  the  one,  as  well  as  the  other,  is  very  much 
used  in  Germany  ;  and  a  great  deal  more  indeed  by 
men  than  women."  * 

Great  ingenuity  was  exerted  in  discovering  and 
applying  various  kinds  of  earths  and  solvents  to  clean 
the  body  and  the  clothes,  as  may  be  followed  at  length 
in  Pliny  ;  but  yet  the  best  mixture  at  which  they  seem 
to  have  arrived,  is  that  which  was  used  in  Greece,  of 
which  the  preparation  is  described  by  Aristophanes  in 
the  Frogs — a  compositionf  of  ashes,  nitre  and  crinoline 

*  Nat.  Hist.  b.  28. 

t  Bochart  imagines  that  the  Phoenicians  had  given  the  name 
to  the  island,  Gum-ohal,  signifying  "  fossa  smegmatis."  It  was- 
found  in  Thessaly,  Lycia,  Sardis  and  Umbria.  Avicenna  calls 
it  Al  Siraph,  from  a  town  on  the  Persian  gulf.  Dioscorides 
says,  gall  prepared  with  nitre  and  earth  of  Cineola,  is  the  best 
detergent.  The  ancients  knew  the  saponaceous  root  with  which 
in  India  shawls  and  muslins  are  washed,  and  which  the  Persians, 
Turks,  and  Arabs,  use  for  the  hair,  and  otherwise  where  great 
delicacy  is  required.  It  was  from  a  Persian  word  called  Asleg, 
by  the  Arabs  Condus,  by  the  Greeks  arpovBiov,  whence  arpovBi^uv, 
Pliny  calls  it  (Nat.  His.  1.  xix.  c.  3),  "  radiculam  et  herbam 
lanariam."  The  detersives  used  by  the  ancients  were  various, 
but  were  nearly  the  same  as  those  in  present  use  among  the 
Mahometans.  They  were  called  by  the  general  name  of  smeg- 
mata.  A  common  detersive  was  bean  meal,  which  the  Romans 
called  lomentum,  and  a  paste  from  lupine  flour.  Galen  (De  Ali- 
ment.  Facul.  i.)    says,    "  Cutis  sordes  fabacea  farina  manifesto 


USED  BY   THE   ANCIENTS.  363 

earth.  The  Romans,  like  the  French  at  present, 
lessieved  their  dirty  linen."* 

deterget,"  (bean  flour  certainly  takes  off  filth  from  the  skin),  on 
which  account  procuresses  and  dainty  women  anciently  made 
great  use  of  it  :  they  smeared  it  on  the  face,  and  it  was  said  to 
remove  freckles  and  pimples.  Dioscorides  goes  so  far  as  to  assert 
that  it  will  render  cicatrices  of  a  uniform  colour  with  the  rest 
of  the  skin.  It  stops  the  blackness  arising  from  blows.  Lomen- 
tum  will  take  away  wrinkles,  if  we  are  to  believe  Martial  (1.  iv.) 

Lumento  rugas  ventris  quod  condere  tentas. 
Pliny  says  (1.  xxviii.  c.  25),  that  lupine  flour  made  into  a  paste 
with  vinegar,  will,  if  smeared  on  in  the  bath,  remove  pimples 
and  itching,   and  dry  up   running  sores  j    that  a  decoction  of 
lupines  will  cure  freckles  and  brace  the  skin. 
*  Pliny,,  xxviii.  51. 


364  DESCRIPTION    OF 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DOMESTIC    ARCHITECTURE    OF    THE   MOORS. 

The  domestic  arrangements  differ  here  from  other 
Mussulman  countries.  The  house  is  not  divided  into 
Harem  and  Salambu.  In  fact,  there  is  no  harem,  for 
there  are  neither  its  rights  nor  privileges  :  the  separa- 
tion of  the  women,  which  in  Arabia  could  not  be  ex- 
tended to  the  habitation,  adapted  itself  to  the  gynse- 
ceum  of  the  houses  among  the  Greeks,  and  the  Zanana 
of  the  followers  of  Zoroaster.  In  Morocco,  there 
having  been  no  such  anterior  practice,  the  injunction 
has  had  no  effect  on  those  who  live  under  the  tent, 
and  has  converted  the  domiciles  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  cities  into  inhospitable  abodes.  I  went  to-day  to 
Mike  Brettel's,  on  invitation,  expressly  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  his  house,  which  is  just  finished.  I  can  see 
nothing  more  remarkable  at  Fez  or  Morocco,  so  I 
shall  endeavour  to  describe  it. 

"We  approached  by  a  narrow  lane  of  blind  walls 
about  twelve  feet  high.  The  door  was  in  the  corner, 
the  arch  above  it,  and  the  lintels  were  painted  in 
broad  bars,  and  stripes  of  deep  colours  like  an  Egypt- 
ian tomb  :  there  was  a  knocker — nay,  two — one  for 


A   MOORISH    HOME.  3f)5 

the  folding  doors,  and  another  for  the  wicket;  the 
upper  one  might  have  been  made  in  London.  We 
knocked  :  the  knock  is  neither  a  single  tap,  nor  a 
postman's  double  rap,  but  a  double  knock,  though 
neither  quite  so  loud  or  long  as  those  with  which 
the  squares  of  London  were  wont  to  resound.  The 
door  not  being  immediately  opened,  we  heard  with- 
in a  bell  rung  sharply,  (in  Eastern  countries  the  bell 
is  unknown),  and  the  door  was  opened  by  a  young 
girl,  a  slave,  small,  yet  apparently  full  grown.  She 
wore  a  tunic  of  blue  and  white,  striped,  which  left  her 
neck,  arms,  and  half  her  legs  bare.  Her  colour  was 
chocolate,  her  features  perfect,  her  form  a  model. 
Her  sparkling  eyes  and  white  teeth  announced  that 
the  visit  was  expected  ;  and,  waving  her  hands  as  a 
signal  to  follow,  she  tripped  up  a  narrow  staircase  by 
the  door.  The  steps  and  passages  were  inlaid  with 
hexagonal  red  tiles  and  small  triangles  of  green  tiles  : 
there  was  no  flooring  about  the  house  richer  than 
this,  which  is  very  modest  :  the  houses  and  court- 
yard of  the  Jews  are  in  Mosaic.  At  the  top  of  the 
stairs  we  found  ourselves  in  a  small  vestibule,  the 
light  let  in  from  above,  through  the  ornamented  por- 
tions of  the  ceiling.  Everything  was  in  proportion  : 
all  palace-like,  but  microscopic ; — I  might  have  taken 
it  for  the  abode  of  the  pigmies  of  Herodotus,  had  my 
guide   not  rather  suggested  fairies   or   sylphs. 

The  vestibule  led  to  an  apartment,  where  the 
master  of  the  house  was  seated  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor  with  a  tea-tray  before  him.     Seeing  me  busied 


366  A  TEA-PARTY   IN  RABAT. 

in  taking  off  my  shoes,  he  came  forward  entreating 
me  to  enter  with  them  on ;  for  it  is  common  to 
imagine  that  Europeans  make  it  a  point  of  honour 
to  disregard  the  feelings  of  their  Eastern  hosts,  and 
to  soil  their  carpets.  This  room  was  the  gem  of  the 
house,  but  it  was  some  time  before  I  could  venture 
to  examine  it,  being  shamed  by  the  officious  zeal  of 
the  Jews  who  accompanied  me,  and  who  began  at 
once  to  point  out  this  and  that,  as  if  we  had  en- 
tered a  shop, — I  mean  a  European  one, — for  in  an 
Oriental  shop  the  decencies  are  not  neglected. 

Mike  Brettel  commenced  making  tea; — they  use 
fine  green  tea — they  put  it  into  the  pot  with  sundry 
sweet  herbs  and  large  lumps  of  sugar.  The  teapot  was 
Britannia  metal,  the  cups  and  saucers  the  small  delicate 
Chinese.  The  tray  was  of  a  manufacture  for  which 
Rabat  is  celebrated.  It  is  brass  chased  in  arabesques 
and  inlaid  in  colours.  At  Mecca  they  work  in  the 
same  way.  He  rang  the  bell  for  hot  water  and  sugar, 
which  were  brought,  the  one  by  the  olive  maiden  already 
mentioned,  the  other  by  one  whom  I  might  have  taken 
for  her,  had  her  tunic  not  been  white  and  red.  The 
hot  water  was  brought  in  a  common  tin  kettle,  the 
sugar  in  a  japanned  epaulette  box.  The  two  little 
slaves  having  discharged  their  office,  returned  and  stood 
with  crossed  arms  against  the  white  wall,  which  cast 
forth  as  from  the  field  of  a  phantasmagoria,  their 
plump,  symmetrical  and  dark  limbs.  They  seemed  to 
have  been  sent  on  the  part  of  the  female  household  to 
do  all  the  work  of  gazing  on  the  strangers ;  *  and  if 


A  MOORISH   ROOM  DESCRIBED.  367 

I  had  to  judge  by  them  of  those  we  did  not  see,  Mike 
BretteFs  Harem,  for  beauty,  originality,  and  sprightli- 
ness,  had  little  to  fear  from  competition,  far  or  near. 

I  was  accompanied  by  the  consular  agent,  his 
soldier,  and  a  common  Jew.  After  Mr.  Leraza  and 
I  were  seated,  the  soldier  was  invited  to  sit  down, 
and  then  the  Jew :  he  did  so  quite  familiarly,  close 
to  the  master  of  the  house,  who,  with  his  own  hand 
served  him,  after  the  rest,  with  tea. 

The  room  was  a  cube  of  fifteen  feet ;  there  was 
one  small  window,  a  simple  aperture  in  the  white 
wall  in  the  form  of  a  niche  struck  through  the 
thickness  of  the  wall,  levelled  inside  ;  this  feature 
took  the  apartment  out  of  the  common-place.  On 
the  floor  was  spread  one  of  their  beautiful  mats ;  on 
the  three  sides  were  mattresses  covered  with  Turkey 
carpets,  and  cushions  at  each  end  resembling  a  low 
Turkish  divan.  The  wails  were  dead  white,  broken 
by  richly-ornamented  arm-racks.  Three  long  guns  on 
each  in  their  red  cloth  cases,  daggers  in  massive 
chased  silver  scabbards,  swords  and  pouches,  were 
suspended  by  silk  cords  with  large  tassels,  blue,  red 
and  yellow.  The  crown  of  the  room  was  the  ceil- 
ing :  an  octagon  dome  was  fitted  on  to  the  cube  by 
means  of  arches  in  the  angles,  which  will  be  under- 
stood by  reference  to  the  Hall  of  the  Ambassadors, 
in  Owen  Jones's  Alhambra ;  but  the  roof,  instead 
of  being  in  coloured  stucco,  was  in  carved  and 
painted  wood.  There  was  no  gilding  or  silvering 
— the    effect   was    worked    out    entirely  from    dead 


368  MOORISH   ARMS. 

colour.  I  looked  at  it  till  my  neck  was  sore  and 
stiff,  and  I  can  only  describe  it  by  the  word  ara- 
besque, just  as  I  might  say  kaleidoscope,  and  in 
like  manner,  interminable :  the  same  elements  re- 
appear in  never-ending  forms,  ever  pleasing,  ever 
new,  yet  always,  in  so  far  as  description  can  go, 
the  same.  The  roof  was  the  statue,  the  apartment 
the  pedestal :  each  required  the  other.  The  solitary 
light,  the  pure  white  walls,  the  cubic  form,  were 
required  to  set  off  the  placid  beauty  of  the  dome. 
The  window  was  minute  ;  the  door  (if  one  might 
say  so  in  reference  to  so  small  a  body,)  grand.  Its 
horse-shoe  arch  expanded  to  the  sides  and  reached 
the  vault,  displaying  the  little  vestibule,  all  variegated 
in  colours,  all  ornamented  in  form  like  the  ceiling. 
It  was  a  thing  not  to  live  in,  but  to  gaze  at. 

We  next  got  our  host  to  permit  us  to  examine 
the  arms.  One  was  of  Tetuan  manufacture,  one  of 
Fez;  the  first  spirally  fluted  on  the  outside:  both 
barrels  were  inlaid  with  gold,  were  four  feet  and 
a  half  long,  and  ornamented  at  the  muzzle  like 
old  pieces  of  ordnance.  The  mounting  was  silver, 
ornamented  with  the  black  figures  which  in  the  East 
are  called  Sabat.  The  locks  were  cumbersome,  the 
work  intricate,  and  all  outside.  There  is  a  covering 
to  the  powder  in  the  pan  like  the  old  pieces  of  the 
French  Gardes  du  Corps.  The  price  was  twenty-five 
and  thirty-five  dollars  :  I  should  have  guessed  them 
at  double.  The  daggers  were  in  no  way  remark- 
able ;  but  the   cases,  handles,  and   cords  were  very 


COSTUME   OF   THE   MOORS.  369 

rich :  one  sword  rang  like  a  Damascus  blade.  Their 
swords  are  long  and  straight,  slightly  bent  towards 
the  point,  and  have  a  heavy  thick  handle  with  a 
peculiar  guard.* 

The  only  other  piece  of  furniture  was  a  Turkish 
sofra,  or  small  hexagonal  stool  inlaid  in  tortoiseshell 
and  mother  of  pearl,  on  which  is  placed  the  tepsi, 
or  round  tray  for  dinner.  The  carving  of  the  sofra  is 
peculiar,  and  might  be  taken  for  the  model  of  some 
portion  of  a  Gothic  building.  I  now  saw  that  this 
was  no  Turkish  piece  of  furniture  :  the  Turks,  like 
the  Eomans,  have  borrowed  from  every  other  people 
what  was  most  elegant  or  useful.  Augustus  intro- 
duced a  stool  from  Spain  to  Rome — why  should  not  one 
have  been  carried  from  Morocco  to  Constantinople  % 

As  this  Moor  was  reaching  down  one  of  the  guns, 
his  haik  fell  off,  displaying  a  rich  blue  and  red 
vesture,  while  the  volumes  of  the  white  toga  cast 
their  majestic  folds  around.  Close  by  stood  the 
Numidians—  two  antique  bronzes.  We  cultivate  the 
arts :  we  raise  to  the  rank  of  sages  and  princes  the 
men  who  excel  in  conceiving  and  portraying  beau- 
tiful forms.  Their  works  are  the  embellishments  of 
temples  and  palaces,  the  glory  of  empires  and  the 
worth  of  millions.  They  have  no  schools  of  design  ; 
no  science  of  colours ;  no  artist  —  no,  nor  even 
tailors;  and  yet  there  was  his  costume — there  was 
mine.     I  attempted  to  convey  this  to  him  :  he  said, 

*  There  is  in  Meyrick's  collection  an  old  Highland  sword 
with  the  same  guard. 

VOL.  I.  B  B 


370  ECONOMY   OF   A   MOORISH    KITCHEN. 

"  Our  fathers  have   left   us  many  good  things,  and 
we  are  content  with  them." 

Proceeding  on  our  inspection,  we  passed  through  a 
succession  of  small  courts  and  corridors,  as  if  we  were 
in  the  under-story  of  a  palace.  There  were  four 
houses  joined  together  by  doors  broken  through  the 
wall  :  these  houses  are  fitted  one  against  the  other 
like  so  many  boxes,  the  lights  coming  from  the  court 
in  the  centre  of  each.  In  the  kitchens  there  was  a 
great  assortment  of  wood  dishes,  like  low  corn  mea- 
sures, scrubbed  white,  as  in  Switzerland  ;  rows  of 
round  pots,  in  which  the  fires  are  made,  called  nafe  ; 
and  kuskoussoo  dishes  of  pottery  called  Keskas,  the 
covers  in  thick  close  basket-work,  ornamented  with 
colours.  Every  place,  thing,  corner,  was  most  per- 
fectly sweet  and  clean.  On  entering  the  store  rooms 
it  seemed  as  if  we  had  penetrated  into  a  chamber  at 
Pompeii.  (The  whole  establishment  recalled  Pompeii.) 
Jars  of  the  shape  and  dimensions  of  amphorse,  only 
transversed  at  the  point,  stood  in  rows  containing,  not, 
indeed,  Falernian  wine,  but  kuskoussoo,  pease,  butter, 
rice,  and  even  fresh  meat.  After  it  is  packed,  butter 
is  kneaded  hard  into  the  orifice,  and  water  is  poured 
over  it.  Homer  says,  that  in  Lybia  neither  prince  nor 
peasant  wants  for  food,  and  this  was  confirmed  by  the 
large  scale  on  which  the  arrangements  were  here  made 
to  meet  the  demands  of  hospitality.  One  of  the  court- 
yards, with  an  adjoining  kitchen  and  store,  was  ap- 
propriated to  cooking  food,  to  be  sent  out  to  friends 
and  strangers. 


DESCRIPTION   OF  THE   WOMEN'S  APARTMENT.     371 

We  now  entered  a  court  which  rivalled  the  first 
apartment — all  white,  light  and  airy.  At  each  of  the 
angles  there  was  a  group  of  three  columns,  and  from 
them  sprang  a  lofty  fretted  arch,  which  occupied  the 
centre  of  each  of  the  faces.  A  narrow  cornice  in 
coloured  stucco  under  the  projecting  eaves  ran  all 
round  ;  so  the  stuccoes  of  Spain  are  not  a  lost  art. 

From  this  truly  barbaresque  hall,  open  to  the  hea- 
vens, we  passed  into  the  women's  principal  apartment. 
It  was  a  long  and  very  narrow  room,  entered  in  the 
centre  by  lofty  folding  doors  :  the  wicket  only  was 
open.  At  each  extremity  was  a  bed  filling  the  width 
of  the  apartment,  raised  high  and  concealed  by  bro- 
cade curtains.  In  two  successive  stages  were  mattresses 
piled  and  covered  with  rich  stuffs,  and  cushions,  ser- 
ving for  divans  by  day  and  beds  by  night.  The  open 
space  in  the  centre  was  covered  with  a  mat,  and  there 
were  low  narrow  seats  around  of  folded  carpets  and 
coverlids.  On  each  side  of  the  door  were  wardrobe 
chests.  The  room,  to  the  height  of  four  and  a  half 
feet,  was  hung  with  red  velvet,  inlaid  to  imitate 
mosaics  ;  but  perhaps  the  mosaics  may  be  the  imita- 
tion with  velvet  of  other  colours. 

The  embroidery  on  the  cushions,  &c,  is  unlike  any- 
thing else.  There  are  patches  of  colour  as  though 
formed  by  a  succession  of  the  palms  of  an  Indian 
shawl,  one  row  blue,  another  red,  and  so  on  :  the 
stitches  are  long  and  the  work  looks  like  satin  with 
bindings,  each  long  stitch  being  followed  by  a  short 

one.     There  were  fastened  to  the  wall,  and  project- 

B  b  2 


372  JEWELLERY   OF  THE  MOORS. 

ing  from  it,  those  many-coloured  racks  or  brackets 
of  which  I  have  spoken,  on  which  stood  fine  china- 
ware  and  ornaments.  The  rafters  of  the  roof  were 
ornamented  in  like  manner,  vermilion  predominat- 
ing. The  sleeping  apartment  had  portals  like  a 
church,*  their  hinges  and  sockets  were  on  the  out- 
side ;  the  large  slabs  were  of  arbor- vitse,  soft  as  velvet 
to  the  touch,  and  rubbed  over  with  red  ochre. 

We  were  treated  to  a  sight  of  the  contents  of  the 
chests.  The  dresses  were  principally  in  brocade  of 
Lyons ;  but  otherwise,  they  were  inferior  to  those  of 
the  Jewesses  of  Tangier  and  Tetuan,  and  had  not  the 
merit  of  native  taste  and  work.  Not  so  the  jewel- 
lery. One  necklace  was  peculiar  :  it  was  formed  of 
large  gold  pieces,  some  of  them  cufic  and  coral  balls, 
divided  by  bunches  of  pearls,  in  the  centre  of  each  of 
which  there  was  a  pierced  amethyst.  For  the  ne- 
gresses,  the  necklaces  were  large  coral  beads  and  silver 
coins  alternately,  the  coins  being  strung  through  the 
centre.  The  necklace  does  not  go  round  the  neck,  but 
from  shoulder  to  shoulder.  At  the  shoulder  it  is  fas- 
tened to  a  brooch  of  a  very  singular  construction,  and 
is  in  various  ways  a  most  interesting  ornament.  It  is 
circular,  and  serves  also  to  secure  the  ha'ik  and  in  it 
the  most  precious  stones  they  have  are  placed.  One 
was  an   emerald  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter. 

*  "  The  first  consuls  of  Rome,  L.  V.  Publicola  and  L.  Brutus, 
as  also  the  brother  of  the  latter,  had  in  their  patents  for  the  few 
lands  granted  them,  the  distinction  of  having  their  gates  to  open 
outward  instead  of  inward. — Pliny,  1.  xxxvi.  c,  15. 


, 


STUCCOS  OF  THE   HASSAN   TOWER.  373 

Such  were  Aaron's  ouches  on  the*  shoulders  to  which 
the  chains  were  attached. 

This  brooch  is  called  kefhiat,  and  has  a  moveable 
tongue  which  traverses  round  a  circle,  in  which  there 
is  a  slip,  so  that  after  passing  the  tongue  through  the 
folds  that  are  to  be  secured,  you  turn  the  circle  and 
thereby  the  tongue  fits  on  upon  it  as  if  it  were  a 
buckle.  When  I  saw  it,  I  was  immediately  reminded 
of  the  Highland  brooch  for  the  plaid,  to  which  they 
have  adopted  the  stones  which  their  Hyperborean 
country  affords ;  and  I  recollected  having  seen  an 
ancient  one  which  seemed  to  be  like  these.  On  visit- 
ing Dublin,  subsequently  to  my  return  from  Barbary, 
I  saw  in  the  museum  numerous  kefkiats,  and  on  re- 
cognizing them  as  old  friends,  I  was  assured  by  the 
learned  that  I  must  be  mistaken,  for  that  these  orna- 
ments were  peculiar  to  the  Irish  Celts.  However, 
there  they  are  —  alone  found  in  Ireland  —  alone  worn 
in  Barbary. 

In  an  unfinished  corner  of  the  Tower  Hassan,  I 
found  the  wall  as  it  had  been  prepared  for  the  stucco  : 
it  was  divided  off  in  lines,  crossing  at  right  angles, 

*  It  is  the  three-fourths  of  a  circle  with  a  Job  at  each 
extremity,  and  a  moveable  tongue  lying  upon  it.  The  necklaces 
do  not  pass  round  the  neck,  but  are  worn  in  front,  only  each 
end  being  fastened  to  the  brooch.  With  this  coincides  the  de- 
scription in  Exodus  of  Aaron's  ephod  in  c.  xxviii.  and  xxxix.  The 
two  onyx  stones  engraved  with  the  names  of  the  tribes  were  to  be 
borne  upon  the  two  shoulders,  and  there  were  to  be  two  ouches 
of  gold  to  fasten  the  stones,  from  which  a  chain  should  depend, 
fastened  to  the  breastplate. 


374  THE  MOORISH  COMPASS- 

like  the  frame-work  that  artists  sometimes  use,  to 
verify  the  exactness  of  a  copy.  Over  these  were  drawn 
a  succession  of  intersecting  segments  of  circles.  By 
these  they  could  work  with  certainty  and  celerity,  and 
the  mere  intersection  of  the  plain  and  curved  lines 
formed  the  suggested  patterns.  This  may  account  for 
the  interminable  variety  of  these,  and  the  uniformity 
of  their  character.  The  stuccoes  were  of  plaster  of 
Paris,  and  on  getting  one  of  the  workmen  to  describe 
the  process  of  making  it,  I  found  that  near  Fez  there 
is  a  large  supply  of  arrowheaded  selenite,  correspond- 
ing with  that  of  Montmartre,  near  Paris.*  The  colour 
is  laid  on  with  white  of  egg.  The  great  instrument 
of  the  Moorish  artist  is  the  compass. 

The  Moorish  compass  is  not  composed  of  two  limbs 
of  metal  jointed.  It  is  a  fixed  measure  and  tied  by 
a  string ;  so  that  for  each  different  dimension  there 
is  a  separate  compass,  and  its  name  is  davit,  which 
we  retain  for  the  bent  stanchions  used  in  vessels  to 
hoist  up  boats. 

Arabs  have  no  buildings  :  their  tent  was  their  habi- 
tation. No  traces  of  their  architecture  are  to  be 
found  in  the  two  ancient  cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina. 
The  Caaba  itself  was  a  square  building,  as  if  the  two 
poles  of  the  transverse  one  of  the  flying  tent  had 
been  doubled  for  the  stationary  one,  and  the  Caaba, 
in  sign   and  memory   thereof,  is  hung  with  drapery 

*  The  houses  here  are  better  than  any  in  Morocco,  and  look 
like  casts  in  plaster,  being  built  piece  by  piece  in  moulds. — David- 
son's Journal  in  Fez,  p.  86. 


MOORISH   ARCHITECTURE.  375 

to  this  day.*  The  Arabs,  however,  appear  to  have 
spread  architecture  over  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  ; 
— they  who  possess  neither  ancient  ruins  nor  modern 
dwellings.  These,  with  the  materials  and  models,  are 
found  in  Morocco,  preserved  in  the  midst  of  ignorance, 
unobscured  and  unchanged. 

Architecture  is  the  peculiar  feeling  and  passion  of 
this  people.  The  figures  which  we  find  in  our  cathe- 
drals and  ancient  churches,  are  scattered  about  their 
domestic  establishments,  are  to  be  seen  in  their  trays, 
on  their  stools,  and  in  endless  variety  upon  their  tomb- 
stones. They  have  not,  like  us,  a  domestic  and  a  pub- 
lic, a  religious  and  a  civil  architecture.  Alone  have 
they  combined  delicacy  and  strength.  In  their  edi- 
fices there  is  the  durability  of  the  rock  and  the  deli- 
cacy of  the  flower.  It  would  seem  as  if  they  at  once 
thought  only  of  to-day  and  only  of  eternity.  Nor 
have  there  been  with  them  different  ages  and  styles — 
one  of  strong  and  busy  war,  another  of  idle  elegance  : 
their  strongest  and  rudest  military  works  preserve  the 
choicest  specimen  of  arts,  which  elsewhere  have  re- 
quired, that  they  might  spring  and  blossom,  times 
of  peace  and  ages  of  refinement. 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  quoting  from  the 
"  Quarterly  Review,'1  a  glowing  description  of  Moorish 
dwellings. 

*  The  Carthaginians  hang  drapery  on  their  walls.  In  the  Pen- 
insula, for  ceremonies,  the  streets  are  sometimes  entirely  lined  with 
drapery,  and  the  interior  of  the  churches  in  Spain  have  drapery 
fitted  for  them  like  clothes.  The  cathedral  of  Seville  may  be  seen  in 
Holy  Week  undergoing  changes  like  the  decorations  of  a  theatre. 


376         DESCRIPTION   OF  MOORISH   BUILDINGS. 

"The  exterior  of  Moorish  edifices  in  general  was 
plain  and  forbidding ;  the  object  was  to  keep  out  heat 
and  enemies,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  to  keep  in 
women  and  to  disarm  the  evil  eye — the  great  bugbear 
of  antiquity,  the  East,  Andalusia,  and  Naples.  The  in- 
terior, all  light,  air,  colour,  and  luxury,  glittered  like  a 
spar  enclosed  in  a  rough  pebble,  and  the  door  once 
opened,  ushered  the  Moor  into  a  houri-peopled  palace 
which  realised  those  gorgeous  descriptions  that  seem  to 
our  good  folks,  who  live  in  bricks  and  mortar,  to  be  the 
fictions  of  oriental  poetry,  or  the  fabric  of  Aladdin's 
genii ;  yet  such  were  the  palatial  fortresses — the  Aba- 
zares,  the  Alhambras  of  the  Spanish  Moors  ;  and  such, 
on  a  minor  scale,  were  their  private  dwellings,  many  of 
which  still  exist  in  Seville,  though  dimmed  by  ages  and 
neglect.  The  generic  features  are,  a  court  hidden  from 
public  gaze,  but  open  to  the  blue  sky,  and  surrounded 
with  horse-shoe-arched  corridors,  which  rest  on  palm- 
like pillars  of  marble,  whose  spandrils  are  pierced  in 
gossamer  lace- work;  in  the  centre  plays  a  fountain, 
gladdening  the  air  with  freshness,  the  ear  with  music, 
the  eye  with  dropping  diamonds.  On  the  walls  around, 
was  lavished  a  surface  of  mosaic  decoration,  richer 
than  shawls  of  cashmere,  wrought  in  porcelain  and  deli- 
cate plaster,  and  painted  with  variegated  tints  ;  above 
hung  a  roof  of  Phoenician-like  carpentry,  gilded  and 
starred  as  a  heaven ;  while  the  doors  and  windows 
admitted  vistas  of  gardens  of  myrtles,  roses,  oranges, 
and  pomegranates,  where  fruit  mingled  with  flower 
and  colour  vied  with  fragrance." 


AN   EXPEDIENT.  377 


BOOK    III. 

THE  ARAB  TENT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HUNTING   EXPEDITION  TO   SHAVOYA. 

I  have  already  stated  my  object  in  visiting  Barbary, 
and  its   frustration.    I   thought  it  best,  therefore,    to 
abstain  from  any  intercourse  with  the  Moorish  govern- 
ment on  political  matters,  and  to  take  advantage  of 
the  entrance  I  had  obtained  to  see  the  country.    I 
soon,  however,  found  myself  the  object  of  suspicion. 
If  I  spoke  of  visiting  Fez  or  Morocco,  I  was  mysteri- 
ously motioned  to  be  silent.      The  guards  assigned  to 
me  watched  me  as  a  prisoner.      I  was  not  suffered  to 
cross  the  threshold  without  a  written  order  from  the 
Cai'd.     The  prospect  before  me  was  close  confinement 
until  I  could  get  over  the  bar  as  I  had  entered,   and 
for  that  deliverance  I  might  have  to  wait  six  months. 
In  this  dilemma,  I  bethought  myself  of  an  expedient. 
Geology,    in  these    countries,   is    a  delicate    subject. 
There  are  the  jealousy  of  avarice  and  the  fear  of  con- 
sequences.    They  associate  with  their  mines  the  for- 


378  MOORISH  JEALOUSY   OF   STRANGERS. 

mer  invasion,  and  almost  conquest  by  Portugal ;  and 
indeed  the  Portuguese  seem  to  have  drawn  consider- 
able stores  of  gold  from  this  country.  They  opened 
many  mines  ;  in  every  case,  as  soon  as  the  Moors  got 
possession,  the  mines  were  filled  up.  A  promising  sul- 
phur manufactory  had  been  recently  set  up  at  Fez,  by 
a  renegade  Frenchman  :  it  was,  by  order  of  the  govern- 
ment, levelled  with  the  ground,  and  all  the  instru- 
ments destroyed,  lest  it  should  furnish  a  new  attrac- 
tion to  the  French ;  yet  it  was  to  geology  and  mines 
that  I  had  recourse  to  unbolt  the  gates  of  Rabat.  I 
raised  the  question  ex  abrupto — spoke  of  mines  to 
everybody,  and  exposed  the  folly  of  denying  to  them- 
selves resources,  &c.  These  discussions  reached  the 
Sultan ;  curiosity  was  excited,  and  the  matter  debated ; 
the  ludicrous  exhibition  they  had  made  by  ruining 
the  sulphur  works,  partly  admitted  mineral  investiga- 
tion, and  had  its  partizans,  and  at  last  I  received  the 
acceptable  intimation  that  I  might  go  and  "  hunt  wild 
boars  "  in  the  province  of  Shavoya,  whence  an  inquisi- 
tive chief  had  brought  a  specimen  of  "  madein," — a  mag- 
nificent crystal,  or  spiculated  mass  of  cromate  of  iron. 

On  the  forenoon  of  the  23rd  of  December,  the  per- 
mission reached  me,  and  the  Sheik,  with  geological 
cravings,  the  chief  of  the  provincial  tribe,  was  to  be 
my  companion,  together  with  three  of  the  Sultan's  own 
body-guard,  and  a  guard  from  the  Caid  of  Rabat.  The 
consul,  Mr.  Leraza,  volunteered  his  services  as  interpre- 
ter, and  in  the  scarcity  of  horses,  I  was  obliged  to 
leave  behind  my  English  scribe. 


AN    EXCURSION  BEGUN.  379 

The  consulate  was  immediately  like  a  disturbed 
ant-hill,  and  the  sun  was  still  some  fathoms  above 
his  western  bed,  when  we  found  ourselves  beyond  the 
walls,  and  fairly  plunged  into  the  living  desert — for 
desert  it  was  as  soon  as  the  town  was  shut  out.  We 
shortly  turned  down  to  the  right  and  threaded  our  way 
along  the  margin,  where  Africa  and  the  Atlantic  meet. 
The  one  bore  no  house,  the  other  no  sail — not  a  vestige 
of  man's  toil  on  the  earth,  nor  on  the  ocean  a  sign 
of  his  daring : — they  were  alone  in  their  immensity. 
Again  striking  inward  we  lost  sight  of  the  sea,  and 
under  the  reigning  solitude  could  fancy  ourselves 
approaching  the  Zahara. 

The  waste  was  not,  however,  dry  sand  or  parched 
deserts  ;  the  land  wore  a  rich  vesture,  and  its  tissue 
was  of  flowers.  The  wild  growth  of  the  fan-like 
palmetto,  that  most  useful  of  comparatively  useless 
plants,  predominated.  Its  services  to  man  were  pre- 
sently made  known  to  me.  I  had  on  board  a  package 
of  saddles  and  bridles  used  years  ago  while  travelling 
in  the  East.  Three  sets  had  been  put  in  requisition 
without  undergoing  the  requisite  repairs  and  revisions ; 
girths,  buckles,  straps,  gave  way  one  after  the  other 
in  a  manner  which  in  any  other  country  would  soon 
have  brought  us  to  a  stand  still  ;  but  on  each  mis- 
chance a  man  would  slip  off,  make  a  grasp  at  a  doum 
branch,  and  commence  plaiting  :  between  the  ductility 
of  the  leaf  and  the  dexterity  of  their  fingers,  girths 
and  bands  were  miraculously  restored,  buckles  and 
ties  supplied. 


380  PLANTS   OF  MOROCCO. 

Around  the  doum  were  scattered  the  narcissus,  and 
the  plant  of  the  "  gardens  of  the  blessed,"  the  aspho- 
del. Here  we  were  on  the  very  verge  of  that  sacred 
west,  towards  which  the  living  looked  where  the  dead 
should  dwell,  within  those  granitic  arms  which  extend 
to  receive  the  departed  spirit."""  The  fourth  plant  was 
the  festouk.  This  is  honoured  by  the  name  of  Escu- 
lapius  :  it  resembles  fennel,  but  is  much  longer,  the 
shoots  standing  eight  or  ten  feet.  The  gum  ammoniac 
is  collected  from  it  in  the  south.  A  fly  with  a  horn 
in  the  head  pierces  the  trunk,  and  causes  the  gum 
to  flow.  The  stem  serves  in  Spain  and  Morocco  as 
a  razor  strop.  Great  as  is  our  proficiency  in  cutlery, 
we  cannot  put  an  edge  on  a  razor  like  the  Moors,  or 
shave  as  they  do.  They  lay  the  instrument  to  the 
very  root  and  make,  so  to  speak,  an  excision  of  its 
growth.  Barbers  get  their  name,  no  doubt,  from  Bre- 
ber  ;  that  was  the  early  mode  of  supplying  names  to 
professions.  The  shaving  of  the  head  was  unknown 
to  the  Greeks,  Romans  or  Egyptians,  and  the  hair 
was  always  left  untouched  till  the  age  of  manhood, 
when  it  was  cut  short  and  consecrated.  The  tombs 
of  Lycia  exhibit  to  us  boys  with  shaved  heads  and  a 
little  tuft,  as  at  present  worn  by  the  Mussulmans. 
This  practice  of  the  "  Barbarians  "  of  Asia  Minor  may 

*  These  arms  are  represented  by  the  verge  of  the  papyri  of 
the  mummies.  The  bodies  were  buried  with  the  face  turned  to 
the  west.  In  sacrificing  to  the  manes  they  turned  to  the  west. 
— Schol.  Apoll.  Rhod.  vol.  i.  p.  580.  In  sacrificing  on  Mount 
Moriah  Abraham  turned  to  the  west. 


A  CARAVAN.  381 

well  have  suggested  the  word,  though  we  do  not  apply 
it  as  it  was  originally  applied,  in  a  geographical  sense. 
The  usages  of  Morocco  are  so  far  Mussulman  only 
as  the  Mussulmans  have  adopted  them.  The  shaved 
head  and  chin  are  Philistine,  and.  therefore,  perhaps? 
the  Jews  were  forbidden  to  shave  the  corners  of  their 
beards,  and  the  lock  on  the  temple  remains  their  dis- 
tinctive mark.  The  first  man  who  shaved  the  chin 
daily  at  Rome  was  Scipio  Africanus.  The  pith  of 
the  festouk  serves  as  a  slow  match.  It  was  in  it 
{vdgQril)  that  Prometheus  concealed  the  fire  he  filched 
from  Heaven. 

These  four  plants  seemed  equally  distributed  over 
every  patch  of  ground,  and  extended  over  the  whole 
face  of  the  country.  The  flowers  of  the  asphodel 
stood  higher  than  a  man.  The  soil  is  mere  sand  ; 
but  between  the  clumps  of  flowers  a  little  grass  might 
be  seen. 

About  seven  o'clock,  it  having  been  some  time  dark, 
we  came  suddenly  upon  fires  and  crowds  of  squat- 
ters, and  bales  heaped  around  them :  the  herds  of 
crouching  camels  had  a  strange  appearance  among  the 
people  and  the  smoke.  It  was  a  small  caravan  settled 
round  a  Douar.  We  were  preparing  to  pitch  outside, 
but  in  the  hurry  of  our  departure,  or  rather  flight, 
the  tent  pins  had  been  forgotten.  The  sheik  imme- 
diately removed  his  family  out  of  his  own  tent  to 
accommodate  us. 

At  length  I  beheld  an  Arab  camp — at  length  I 
entered  an  Arab  tent !     I  would  not  have  exchanged 


382  ARABS  AND 

that  sight  for  the  possession  of  a  palace.  That  first 
hour  must  remain  associated  with  every  effort  to  pic- 
ture the  ancient  world — with  every  judgment  of  its 
present  condition. 

When  we  were  comfortably  arranged,  the  sheik 
brought  a  flat  bowl  with  a  pile  of  hot  scous.  As  he 
set  them  down  he  said,  "  scou  !  *  The  two  Scotchmen 
of  the  party  had  been  surprised  at  the  sight  of  the 
dish,  but  they  were  electrified  when  they  heard  the 
word  :  their  astonishment  burst  forth  in  a  way  that 
puzzled  and  amazed  the  sheik.  In  his  turn  he  was 
delighted  with  the  explanation.  The  Douar,  the  Buled, 
the  Cabaile,  are  mere  extensions  of  the  family  and 
multiplications  of  the  tent  :  the  blood  relationship 
runs  through  all ;  the  parentage,  therefore,  of  a  race 
is  of  as  much  interest  to  them  as  that  of  an  indivi- 
dual. "Every  Arab  of  the  present  day/'  says  Burck- 
hardt,  "  can  tell  back  his  fathers  and  their  collateral 
relatives  to  the  ninth  generation."  In  the  last  gene- 
ration a  Highlander  would  do  the  same.*  But 
memory,  like  man,  has  lost  its  early  longevity.  At 
the  time  of  Mahomet  every  Arab  could  trace  back 
twenty  generations,  f 

This  Arab  was  delighted  to  hear  of  a  race  in  England 
with  patriarchal  chiefs  whose  line  ascended  unbroken 
through  ages ;  whose  people  had  remained  almost  to  our 


*  The  last  bard  of  Clanronald,  in  making  an  affidavit  before  a 
magistrate,  enumerated  his  ancestors  to  the  ninth  generation, 
f  Fresnal,  Hist,  des  Arabes  avant  l'lslomism— Introduction. 


HIGHLANDERS.  383 

times  unchanged ;  who  had  their  own  language,""  who 
had  a  diet,  part  of  which  was  u  scous,"f  and  a  dress, 
part  of  which  was  a  haik.  He  came  and  embraced 
me,  when  I  told  him  that  my  forefathers  had  dwelt 
amongst  them,  and  had  left  the  usted  as  their 
memorial.  The  sympathy  for  which  I  was  here  in- 
debted to  my  Highland  blood,  did  not,  as  in  Europe, 
spring  from  antipathy  to  England.  At  this  moment, 
in  Morocco,  England  is  the  idol.  To  her  every  eye 
is  turned  :  they  make  inquiries,  and  hang  upon  your 
answer.  One  Englishman  is  peculiarly  the  object  of 
their  regard.  There  is  not  one  of  them  who  is  not 
familiar  with  the  name  of  "  Palmerston."  Seldom 
did  a  day  pass  that  I  was  not  asked  respecting  the 
chances  of  his  return  to  office,  and  many  a  kindly  pat 
on  the  back  did  I  receive. 

Though  our  journey  had  not  exceeded  a  dozen  miles, 
we  were  completely  exhausted  by  our  day  of  prepara- 
tions, and  had  not  yet  tasted  food  ;  so,  making  our 
supper  upon  this  hors  cFceuvre,  the  scous,  we  laid 
ourselves  down.  My  companions  soon  resigned  them- 
selves to  the  empire  of  fatigue,  and  I,  mesmerized  by 

*  At  Tangier  the  idea  of  an  affinity  between  the  Brebers  and 
the  Celts  is  commonly  entertained.  Mr.  Hay  and  others  men- 
tioned to  me,  that  Highland  soldiers  coming  over  from  Gibraltar, 
could  understand  the  natives.  He  points  out  in  his  work  the 
coincidence  of  Breber  and  Gaelic  words  ;  but  when  these  resem- 
blances are  found,  they  are  of  words  borrowed,  and  not  from  any 
affinity  between  the  languages. 

+  Scou  in  Arabic  means  hot,  as  they  ought  to  be  eaten,  and 
the  expression  "  hot  scous"  is  a  pleonasm. 


384  A  VISION   AND   ITS  DISSOLUTION. 

the  waves  of  the  Numidian  folds,  seemed  to  see  the 
sides  of  the  tent  open  on  dim  vistas  of  long  years, 
through  which  great  shadows  flitted.  Tacferinas  rose, 
and,  beyond,  Jugurtha  ;  there  were  mingled,  like  ghosts 
upon  the  shore  of  Styx,  Hunerick  and  Hannibal, 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  Cervantes,  Don  Sebastian  and  St. 
Louis.  Pictured  scenes  danced  on  the  textile  cloud — 
Moosa  on  the  cliff  of  the  Atlantic ;  Marius  amidst 
Byrsa's  shattered  battlements  ;  Juba  in  his  purple  ; 
Lot  in  his  sackcloth  ;  Rachel  at  the  well ;  and,  walk- 
ing from  the  canvas,  Abraham  stood  in  the  door. 
How  many  more  from  Atlas  to  Nelson  —  how  many 
deeds  from  the  battle  of  the  gods  to  that  of  Trafalgar 
—  what  thrones  and  sceptred  hands  from  the  old 
Muley  of  Carteia,"*  to  the  present  one  of  Fez  !  At 
length  the  phantoms  were  cleared  away,  though  not 
by  light,  and  the  vision  was  broken,  because  I  fell 
from  trance  to  slumber ;  and  sense  then  let  in  what 
fancy  had  before  kept  out  —  the  noises  of  an  Arab 
camp  by  night. 

To  each  tent  there  is  at  least  one  dog.  The  sheep 
ten  per  tent,  expert  in  imitating  old  men's  cough. 
There  are  asses  and  horses  secured  with  chains,  and 
cattle  (the  mugitus  bovum)  mingle  with  the  brayings 
of  the  one  and  the  clanking  of  the  other.  The  steeds 
are  peculiarly  quarrelsome,  and  their  differences  pro- 

*  Melcarth,  from  Mel  and  Cardt,  Prince  of  the  City  (Carteia), 
was  the  title  of  Hercules.  The  Jewish  word  was  Malik.  The 
title  proper  of  the  Sultan  of  Morocco  is  Muley  ;  thence  Molla  of 
the  Turks. 


ARAB   SOCIAL   LIFE.  385 

voke  the  otherwise  tranquil  camels,  who,  when  aroused* 
give  it  to  one  another  in  their  own  Xantippe  fashion. 
Through  all  these  pierced  the  infantine  cry  of  the  kid 
and  goat.  Lastly,  there  is  chanticleer,  reared  from 
Jebusite  eggs, — not  like  our  sober  cock,  contented  with 
a  morning  crow  or  two — but  repeating  hour  by  hour, 
and  all  night  long,  the  warning  notes  which  startled 
Peter.  Take  then  the  sum  —  eighty  cocks,  forty 
camels,  forty  asses,  forty  horses,  eight  hundred  sheep, 
four  hundred  goats,  one  hundred  dogs  —  or  fifteen 
hundred  animals,  called  "  dumb,"  pent  up  in  a  circle 
of  three  hundred  yards'  diameter,  in  the  middle  of 
which  your  tent  is  pitched  !  Speak,  then,  of  "  Nature's 
soft  nurse." 

A  watch  was  appointed.  They  came,  bringing  their 
dogs  to  sleep  round  the  tent,  and,  of  course,  to  sup 
with  our  guards  and  attendants.  It  was  near  eleven 
o'clock  before  they  "sat  down."  Arabs  speak  loud 
and  long,  and  all  together.  They  were  long  at  their 
supper  —  longer  at  their  talk.  When  they  had  done, 
the  dogs  fought  for  the  bones,  and  continued  after 
they  were  picked.  As  soon  as  they  had  concluded, 
the  children  in  the  school  commenced,  all  at  once, 
every  one  a  different  lesson,  as  loud  as  their  throats 
could  shriek,  and  as  fast  as  their  tongues  could  clatter. 
One  sense  was  not,  however,  to  be  racked  alone  : — 
the  process  of  acupuncture  soon  commenced  with  such 
vigour  and  method  that,  when  daylight  appeared,  not 
one  square  line  of  my  whole  body  remained  unsuffused 
with  a  roseate  hue.     Hitherto,   I  had  secured  myself 

vol.  I.  c  c 


386  THE  TRIBE  OF 

against  this  Egyptian  plague,  by  a  musquito  curtain 
sewed  to  a  sheet, *  but  had  neglected  to  have  one  when 
needed  most.  When  I  stirred  up  the  party,  as  I  did 
betimes,  the  consolation  I  received  was,  "You  are 
lucky  that  it  is  winter,  or  you  must  have  had  musqui- 
toes  into  the  bargain  !  "  Each  night  it  was  the  same. 
I  recognized  my  old  acquaintance  among  sheep,  kids, 
dogs,  camels — the  same  school-boys  followed  us  every- 
where, and  we  had  over  and  over  again  the  Lancas- 
terian  method  in  the  morning.  Not  till  the  fourth 
night— -after  all  expedients — cotton-stuffing,  bandages, 
&c,  had  failed  —  did  exhausted  Nature  close  her  ears 
and  mine. 

We  started  next  morning  under  a  Scotch  mist,  and 
were  soon  wet  to  the  skin.  After  four  or  five  hours' 
toiling,  yet  advancing  little,  we  turned  restiff  from 
cold  and  hunger,  and  desired  to  be  housed,  dried,  or, 
at  all  events,  fed.  I  insisted,  as  the  direction  we  tra- 
velled in  mattered  little,  on  going  in  search  of  a  Douar. 
For  two  hours  more  we  continued  to  stray.  Having 
missed  the  one  we  had  sought,  and  avoiding  others 
which  were  in  sight,  our  course  became  to  me  at  last 
utterly  incomprehensible.  I  thought  that  wherever 
there  was  a  tent  there  was  a  welcome,  and  wherever 
a  roof,  a  shelter.  I  now  discovered  my  mistake.  I 
insisted  on  approaching  a  very  small  Douar  of  about 
fifteen  tents,  to  which  some  old  men  and  boys  of  most 

*  One  side  is  gored  out  like  the  mouth  of  a  sack :  by  this 
you  enter,  dropping  all  clothes  outside,  and  the  sack's  mouth  is 
then  tied  round  with  a  cord. 


SABA.  387 

forbidding  appearance,  were  driving  in  the  cattle.  The 
soldiers  went  to  them,  and  standing  long  conversing,  I 
advanced  towards  the  Douar  ;  they  rushed  at  me  with 
violent  gestures.  M.  Seruya  offered  them  money,  but 
they  derided  him,  and  signed  to  us  to  be  off. 

It  was  strange  :  we  had  offended  in  nothing ;  we 
demanded  nothing  ;  we  only  begged  for  shelter,  and  we 
were  willing  to  pay  for  it.  They  were  Arabs  :  we  were 
strangers.  Our  party  was  calculated  to  command  respect 
or  enforce  obedience,  being  composed  of  officers  from 
the  city,  the  sheik  of  a  neighbouring  tribe,  emissaries 
of  the  Sultan  :  we  outnumbered  them,  and  were  armed 
and  mounted.  Yet  the  sense  of  hospitality,  money, 
authority,  strength  availed  us  nothing ;  I  asked  for  an 
explanation  but  gained  none.  Then  came  the  ques- 
tion— the  Homeric  question,  "  Who  are  you  ? — of  what 
race,  of  what  land  % " 

Elne  dc  fioi  yaiav  re  tctjv  brjfiov  Te  nokiv  jk. 

Now  light  broke  in.  I  had  to  ask  the  name,  not  of  a 
village  but  a  tribe.*  A  tribe  might  be  trodden  down, 
not  the  individuals  ;  these  were  not  a  dozen  shepherds : 
— they  were  Saba,  who  muster  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred firelocks.  This  tribe  had  travelled  from  Arabia  : 
they  could  go  back  to-morrow  if  they  liked.  They 
might  have  come  yesterday,  or  a  thousand,  or  two,  or 
three  thousand  years  ago.     To  such  as  they  are,  time 

*  A  remarkable  conversation  is  given  in  Wilson's  "  Lands  of 
the  Bible,"  vol.  i.  p.  330,  with  the  sheik  of  a  tribe  which  he 
found  among  the  ruins  of  Petra,  and  who  recounted  the  story  of 
his  lineage  and  the  place. 

cc2 


388  THE   ZIEIDA 

brings  no  change,  distance  presents  no  obstacle.  But 
this  name  was  not  heard  now  for  the  first  time.  Was 
it  they,  perchance,  who  stole  Job's  cattle  %  Did  any  of 
them  accompany  their  queen  to  Jerusalem  \  How  do 
these  bear  the  patronymic  of  that  mysterious  stock  % 
Sheba  was  the  firstborn  of  Cush  and  elder  to  Phut  and 
Canaan  and  Mizram.  Yet  I  could  not  call  them  with 
Isaiah  "  men  of  stature."  These  Saba  have  seen  arise 
and  pass  away  the  great  empires  of  the  earth.  They 
will  live  when  that  one  to  which  the  wanderer  belongs, 
whom  they  would  not  receive,  is  gone  to  be  addressed 
by  the  shades  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  "  Art  thou  too 
become  as  one  of  us  ! n  Well,  they  did  not  choose  that 
we  should  enter,  and  we  had  neither  right  to  question 
nor  complain.  My  escort  were  Moors,  not  Frenchmen. 
The  Saba  were,  however,  civil  enough  to  direct  us 
to  one  of  the  Douars  of  our  sheik's  tribe, — the  Zieida. 
We  reached  it  about  nightfall,  and  without  halt  or 
parley,  rode  right  in.  Like  the  change  of  a  theatre 
by  the  scene-shifter's  whistle,  a  couple  of  tents  all 
standing,  the  poles,  cords,  &c,  being  manned,  were 
lifted  from  their  place  and  advanced  into  the  centre  : 
matting  was  spread  upon  the  deep,  wet  verdure : 
blazing  wood  was  brought  from  neighbouring  fires, 
piled  into  a  fire,  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  we 
were  roofed,  sheltered,  settled  about  our  hearth,  and  in 
our  home,  where  a  moment  before  the  earth  lay  bare, 
wet,  cold,  dark,  and  comfortless.  Then  came  the 
elders.  The  owner  of  the  tent  brought  a  sheep  to 
present  at  the  door :  another  eggs  ;  another  a  jar  of 


AND    SABA.  389 

butter.  It  was  painful  and  strange  to  me  not  to  be 
able  to  converse  with  them,  and  to  my  instant  and 
repeated  inquiries,  I  could  get  from  my  interpreter 
nothing  more  than  "  compliments/'  —  "  compliments." 
They  soon  retired  to  leave  us  to  get  dried,  and  then 
was  repeated  to  me  their  request,  which  was,  that  we 
should  think  favourably  of  them  now,  and  speak  well 
of  the  oi  hereafter.  I  said,  "  the  proverb  runs  through 
the  world,  '  hospitable  as  an  Arab/  now  I  know  it  is 
a  truth."  They  presently  returned  with  demonstra- 
tions of  gratitude,  my  words  having  been  repeated  from 
tent  to  tent  round  the  Douar. 

Often  during  this  second  sleepless  night  did  those 
words  recur  to  me — "  We  are  Saba."  Suppose  that  one 
of  Job's  descendants  had  been  of  the  party,  we  might 
have  set  up  a  claim  for  the  cattle.  The  Egyptians 
demanded  from  the  colony  of  Jews  introduced  into 
Egypt  by  Alexander,  repayment  for  the  jewels  which 
the  Jewish  women  had  carried  away.  The  claim  was 
admitted,  but  they  pleaded  value  given  in  "  brick - 
making."  Alexander  held  the  defendants  entitled  to 
a  verdict.  Eight  centuries  did  not  give  amongst  them 
the  strength  to  Time  which  with  us  is  acquired  from 
seven  years. 

Sheba  signified  oath  ;*  thus  Beersheba,  the  well  of 
the  oath.  They  were  the  words  of  the  mystery  of 
objurgation,  the  basis  of  religions  and  governments. 

*  Also  "  perfect"  and  "  seven,"  the  perfect  number  completing 
the  "  planets"  and  the  "  week."  The  nasal  sound  gave  zebon, 
whence  some  derive  our  word  seven,  also  the  oeZaQ  of  the  Greeks. 


390        THE  CALIF  AND  THE  SABA. 

The  inventions  of  a  people  have  in  antiquity- 
received  their  name ;  thus  have  many  vocables  been 
formed.  It  is  in  this  manner  that  language  becomes 
history.  We  have  centre  courts  (atrea),  from  the 
manner  of  building  of  Atrea.  Gauze  from  Gaza  ; 
calico  from  Calient ;  muslin  from  Masulipatam  ;  em- 
broiderers (Phrygiones)  from  Phrygia.  Towers  from 
the  Tyrians  ;  ceremonies  from  Cere.  In  Spain  to-day 
a  waggon  is  called  Elheudi  (the  Jew).  These  single 
words,  as  clearly  as  if  written  on  tables  of  brass,  as 
surely  as  if  sworn  to  by  myriads  of  witnesses,  prove 
their  etymon  to  be  fact.  The  Jews  introduced  chariots 
into  Spain  j  the  Etruscans  religious  forms  into  Rome, 
and  so  for  oath,  the  Saba  use  the  inventions  of  the 
ritual  of  ancient  superstition. 

Above  one  thousand  years  ago,  the  answer  given  to 
me  was  given  to  a  Calif  El  Mamrou,  who  while  on 
his  march  to  attack  the  Roman  empire,  meeting  a 
tribe  with  narrow  tunics  like  the  Persians,  and  long 
hair,  called  them  to  him,  and  asked  them  who  they 
were.  They  answered,  "  We  are  Harrane."  He  then 
said,  "  Are  you  Christians  ?  "  which  they  denied.  He 
then  asked,  "  Are  you  Jews  % *  That  they  denied 
also.  Then  he  said,  "  Have  you  got  no  book,  and  do 
you  follow  no  prophet  \ "  And  as  they  returned  an 
uncertain  answer,  he  said  to  them,  "Ye  are  idolaters, 
and  deserve  death  !"  They  then  alleged  that  they  paid 
tribute  and  had  contracted  with  the  Mussulmans ;  but 
he  tells  them  that  they  are  not  of  the  number  of 
those    who    can   make  contracts,   and    threatens   to 


ABRAHAM  AND  THE  SABA.         391 

extirpate  them  to  the  last  child  unless,  on  his  return, 
they  had  professed  Islam,  or  one  of  the  religions  men- 
tioned in  the  book  (Judaism  or  Christianity).  They 
then  changed  their  clothes  and  cut  off  their  hair;  and 
some  became  Christians  and  some  Mussulmans ;  but 
many  would  not ;  and  being  in  great  fear  of  the 
Calif's  return,  they  applied  to  an  old  man  to  know 
what  they  should  do.  He  said  to  them,  "  When  Mani- 
rou  returns,  answer  him,  *  We  are  Saba/  which  is  the 
name  of  the  religion  which  the  Great  God  has  named 
in  the  Koran  ;  and  thus  let  us  be  freed  from  him ! "  * 

Mahomet  makes  Abraham,  when  passing  from  Irak 
into  Syria,  fall  in  with  Saba,  "  versed  in  old  books, 
and  who  believed  what  they  contained."  Then  Abra- 
ham says  to  God  :  "It  does  not  appear  that  in  the 
world  there  are  any  but  I  and  those  who  are  with  me, 
who  are  faithful  and  believe  in  thee  alone.  So  God 
ordered  him  to  preach  to  them ;  and  he  called  to  them, 
but  they  would  not  obey  him.  '  How  should  we/  said 
they,  *  believe  thee  who  canst  not  read  V  So  God 
sent  upon  them  forgetfulness  of  those  sciences  and 
books  which  they  knew." 

And  this,  then,  is  the  last  remnant  of  the  people 
who  first  fixed  the  hours  of  the  day— the  points  of  the 
compass, — who  taught  the  courses  of  the  stars  f — who 
were  the  teachers  of  letters,  and  the  first  law-givers.  % 

*  Hottinger,  De  Reb.  Sab.  1.  i.  c.  8. 

t  Landseer,  Sabrean  Res. 

X  "  Perhaps  the  most  perfect,  and  certainly  the  most  widely 
extended  religious  system  which  was  ever  invented  by  the  unas- 
sisted reason  of  man." — Drummond's  Origines,  iii.  431. 


392  DESCRIPTION   OF 

Small  in  numbers,  scattered  without  being  discon- 
nected, they  had  their  settlements  in  Arabia  Felix  ;  on 
the  Red  Sea  ;  on  the  Persian  Gulf ;  in  Syria  ;  in  Asia 
Minor,  and  in  the  far  regions  of  the  West ;  and  linked 
with  their  camels  the  sea-borne  traffic  of  their  twin 
race  with  the  Indian  and  Atlantic  Oceans.  Yet  of 
them  the  stock  remains — not  one  orphan  of  Tyre 
subsists. 

The  next  morning  was  beautiful ;  and  turning  to  the 
eastward,  we  proceeded  on  our  journey,  expecting 
early  in  the  day  to  reach  sheik  Tibi's  own  Douar. 
We  came  upon  patches  or  outliers  of  the  cork  forests. 
In  ten  miles  I  counted  sixteen  Douars,  averaging  se- 
venty tents  ;  and  the  furthest  from  us  on  each  side 
was  not  more  than  two  miles.  Thence  for  fifteen 
miles,  though  the  land  was  cultivated,  there  was  neither 
tent  nor  tree  to  be  seen.  The  soil,  almost  sand,  is 
thinly  spread  over  a  face  of  rock.  The  festouks  and 
asphodels  had  disappeared,  and  lilies  supplied  their 
place  ;  but  not  a  fly,  nor  a  bird,  nor  a  spider,  nor  in- 
sect, save  ants.  The  hollows  were  marshes  or  little 
lakes ;  but  nowhere  was  the  mould  shaped  by  the 
action  of  water, — nowhere  did  the  soil  imbibe  the  rain 
to  hold  and  discharge  it, — no  trace  of  a  rivulet. 

This  tract  extends  along  the  whole  coast,  averaging 
twenty  miles  in  width  and  five  hundred  feet  in  height. 
Schist,  slate,  and  quartz-rock  protrude  through  it  in 
some  places,  the  line  of  bearing  being  at  right  angles  to 
the  coast.  I  have  already  explained  this  formation, 
the  peculiarity  of  which  consists  in  the  surface  being 


SCENERY.  393 

converted  into  stone.  At  one  place  the  road  crossed 
what  looked  like  a  rivulet  ;  but  the  extent  of  its  course 
was  250  yards,  that  is  to  say,  this  was  the  whole  dis- 
tance from  the  first  indenting  of  the  ground  till  it  had 
opened  into  a  deep  chasm.  Wherever  water  filters 
through,  the  sand  is  removed  and  the  rock  falls  in  ; 
and  then  the  rent  goes  on  like  a  crack  in  a  plate  of 
glass,  widening  and  deepening  to  the  sea. 

This  is  a  landscape  requiring  a  new  name.  I  now 
could  understand  that  strange  term,  "  Rolling  Prairies  :" 
— it  must  be  a  similar  formation,  swelling,  but  not  hill- 
like ;  tame,  but  not  valley-like ;  expanse  not  like  that  of 
the  sea ;  undulations  not  like  those  of  the  land  ;  and 
over  the  whole  a  preadamite  vastness,  unbroken  till 
you  come  abruptly  to  the  edge  of  the  gulfs.  Were  the 
elevation  thousands  instead  of  hundreds  of  feet,  and 
the  distance  from  the  sea  thousands  instead  of  tens  of 
miles,  then  it  would  require  but  snake-grass  and  buffa- 
loes to  witness  an  estampado  without  crossing  the 
Atlantic.  It  was  quite  delightful  to  get  upon  the  hills 
again  :  they  were  rugged  aluminous  schist,  well  clothed 
with  trees  of  extreme  beauty,  but  moderate  size,  prin- 
cipally the  cork  oak.  I  here  first  saw  the  Arar,  the 
Thuya  articulata,  a  tree  between  a  cypress  in  the  leaf, 
and  a  pine  in  the  figure.  The  wood  is  invaluable  ;  no 
worm  touches  it,  and  it  endures  for  ever ;  it  does  not 
split ;  and  though  hard  is  easily  wrought.  They  use  it 
for  the  betma  of  the  houses  which  are  near  the  ceilings 
of  apartments :  those  ceilings  of  "  cedar  and  vermi- 
lion," that  wi'  rend  of  in  the  Prophets  and  the  "  Ara- 


394  THE  FOOD   OF  ARABS. 

bian  Nights."  It  has  the  odour  of  the  cedar,  and 
yields  pitch  and  turpentine.  There  is  also  an  ever- 
green like  the  thorn,  bearing  a  berry  like  the  haw : 
they  call  it  Berri,  and  make  oil  from  it.  This  is  the 
Eliodendron  of  the  Greeks.  Further  to  the  south  there 
is  the  Argan,  from  the  nut  of  which  a  much  esteemed 
oil  is  made.  The  oak  furnishes  the  Bellotis,  which, 
without  ceasing  to  be  an  Arcadian,  is  here  a  real  food. 

Habits  still  draw  very  closely  on  the  Arcadian. 
Water  is  their  drink  ;  their  food  milk  and  wheat  not 
fermented,  and  subjected  to  scarcely  any  cooking.  To 
their  grain  and  milk  they  add  dried  fruits,  fresh 
acorns,  palmetto  root,  truffles,  the  lotus  berry,  and  the 
like.  The  country  produces  the  plants  which  yield 
sago  and  arrow-root. 

Hunting  was  not  the  primitive  state  of  man,  nor  flesh 
his  original  diet.  If  all  the  literature  of  the  world 
were  destroyed  except  that  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, such  a  belief  might  be  pardonable  in  future 
times.  We  put  ourselves  in  a  similar  predicament 
when  we  take  the  pictures  of  early  Greece  as  the  first 
steps  of  the  human  race.  The  names  of  the  first 
slayers  of  animals  and  eaters  of  flesh  have  been  re- 
corded, and  yet  we  treat  as  a  fable  all  that  is  enume- 
rated of  these  times,  because  they  talk  of  living  upon 
acorns.  A  garden  was  the  residence  of  our  first 
parents. 

I  had  made  one  step  backward  towards  the  reality  of 
early  fable,  when  I  wandered  in  the  indubitable  Hes- 
perides  and   plucked   their   golden   fruit ;    but  now, 


THE  SHEIK.  395 

amongst  the  cork  forests,  and  seeing  acorns  and  glands 
plucked  and  fed  upon,  I  made  a  second,  and  reached 
the  golden  age  itself. 

A  man  may  thus  travel  and  find  food  wherever  he 
stretches  out  his  hand,  or  lays  him  down  to  rest.  I 
do  not  say  it  is  a  very  agreeable  diet,  perhaps  not  a 
very  nutritious  one ;  but  still  here  are  roots,  and  plants, 
and  glands,  which  will  sustain  life  without  the  aid  of 
cookery ;  and  populations  might  spread  and  multiply, 
sustained  by  the  spontaneous  gifts  of  the  earth.  The 
first  peopling  of  the  globe  remains  the  greatest  of  won- 
ders ;  for  what  can  be  to  us  more  unaccountable  than 
the  ease  of  their  travels,  the  order  of  their  society, 
the  distinctness  of  their  character,  the  rapidity  of 
their  growth? 

The  Douar  for  which  we  were  bound  was  beyond 
the  hills.  We  had,  therefore,  to  cross  them,  and  from 
the  summit  the  view  opened  to  the  eastward  a  totally 
different  scene.  From  this  height  the  country  behind 
looked  like  a  swelling  sea — before  us  it  was  all  in  heaps. 
No  vacant  space  and  no  rocky  side,  but  as  if  earth  had 
been  carted  to  the  spot  by  tunnelling  giants,  and  shot 
out  there. 

We  found  the  Douar  perched  on  the  summit  of  a 
knoll ; — the  circle  of  tents  looked  like  a  diadem  upon 
its  brow.  Our  tent  was  pitched  in  the  centre,  that  is, 
at  the  top.  As  soon  as  it  was  in  order,  our  Tibi 
came  to  bid  us  welcome  :  he  was  a  simple,  sedulous 
man,  and  from  the  first  to  the  last  moment  was  just 
the  same.     They  paraded  us  round  the  circle,  and  we 


396  THE  sheik's  wife. 

were  passed  from  group  to  group  to  be  examined,  pat- 
ted, and  discussed.  The  round  of  visits  ended  at  the 
Sheik,  and  I  was  ushered  in  among  his  three  wives ; — 
and  here  was  a  busy  scene.  The  tent,  though  I  speak 
from  recollection,  was  little  short  of  forty  feet  in  length 
and  twenty  in  width ;  the  cross-bar  supporting  it  in 
the  middle  might  be  ten  or  twelve  feet  high;  the 
covering  swept  down,  so  that  towards  the  extremities 
you  had  to  crouch  or  creep.  In  the  centre  and  around 
were  piled  up  stores  of  provisions,  clothing,  and  the 
like,  arranged  for  the  convenience  of  sitting  or  sleep- 
ing. There  were  three  or  four  small  fires,  chiefly  of 
embers,  on  which  were  boiling  large  brown  jars  with 
long  necks,  as  if  preparing  for  some  great  feast.  The 
principal  wife  would  soon  by  her  appearance  have 
arrested  my  attention,  had  she  allowed  me  or  any  one 
else  to  be  ignorant  of  her  presence  and  authority.  She 
was  comely,  bold,  haughty,  supple  in  body,  dexterous 
of  hand.  Seated  within  reach  of  the  two  or  three  fires, 
she  was  proceeding  to  dispose  of  the  cooking  viands, 
which,  with  a  huge  ladle,  she  heaped  up  in  correspond- 
ing dishes.  She  was  giving  her  orders  without  inter- 
mitting her  work,  and  all  the  work  of  the  tent  — 
culinary,  at  least, — seemed  to  pass  through  her  hands. 
The  dish  was  kuscoussoo,  so  I  was  not  to  lose  such 
an  opportunity.  What  had  been  despatched  was  for 
the  supply  of  guests  who  had  arrived  before  us  :  she 
now  had  to  recommence  for  us.  When  I  had  suc- 
ceeded in  conveying  to  her  my  desire  to  be  instructed 
in  the  process  of  its  manufacture,  she  gazed  at  me,  and 


THE    SHEIK'S   WIFE. 


397 


asked  what  I  had  eaten  all  my  life,  and  what  the 
women  in  my  country  did  ?  After  briefly  satisfying 
her  curiosity,  she  made  a  place  for  me  beside  herself, 
and  though  her  hands  never  ceased  to  flutter  about 
and  skim  over  the  contents  of  her  tray,  like  a  bird's 
wings,  nor  her  tongue  to  run  on ;  when  any  part  of 
the  operation  required  attention,  she  did  not  fail  to 
awaken  mine. 


398  MODE   OF  PREPARING    KUSCOUSSOO. 


CHAPTER  II. 


KUSCOUSSOO. 


Two  women  sat  in  front  grinding,  and  as  they  pro- 
ceeded filled  the  flour  into  a  basket.  My  hostess, 
seated  on  the  ground,  had  in  her  lap  a  round  wooden 
tray  three  feet  in  diameter,  the  edge  resting  on  the 
round.  The  flour-basket  was  on  the  right  hand,  a  jar 
of  water  on  the  left.  She  first  took  a  handful  of 
flour,  and  dusted  it  into  the  tray,  then,  dipping  both 
hands  in  the  water,  passed  them  through  it,  and  so 
continued  dusting  and  dipping  and  then  making  sweeps 
right  and  left  through  the  growing  mass,  which  gra- 
dually shaped  itself  into  small  grains.  The  fingers 
passing  quickly  and  lightly,  through  and  over  it,  the 
little  moistened  particles  were  augmented  from  the 
dry  flour,  and  new  ones  formed.  The  art  consists  in 
causing  it  to  granulate,  and  in  preventing  it  from 
clotting.  Each  grain  receives  with  its  several  coatings 
pressure  and  manipulation.  We  are  all  familiar  with 
the  change  of  substance  produced  by  working  crumbs 
of  bread  between  the  fingers  ;  and  in  some  analogous 
change  appears  to  consist  the  secret  of  this  dish. 

The   fact  that  the  tray  was  sufficiently  full,  was 


MANNER   OF   EATING  KUSCOUSSOO.  399 

notified  to  me  by  a  smart  nudge  of  the  elbow.  It 
was  then  brought  upon  an  even  keel,  and  she  dashed 
away  amongst  it  with  both  hands  in  a  fine  style  :  it 
was  then  thrown  into  a  sieve  of  pierced  sheepskin ;  and, 
shaken  and  tossed,  the  smaller  grains  passed  through 
below,  the  larger  were  brushed  away  from  the  top: 
the  size,  which  varies,  was,  in  this  case,  about  that  of  a 
large  pin's  head.  The  operation  was  now  completed, 
and  it  came  forth  a  grain  reconstructed  from  the  flour 
by  a  process  which  rendered  it  fit  for  food,  without 
fermentation,  and  almost  without  firing.  From  the 
sieve  it  is  turned  into  a  conical  basket  of  palmetto 
leaves  and  placed  on  the  top  of  one  of  the  long-necked 
jars  boiling  on  the  fire.  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  it  is 
cooked,  or  rather  heated.  It  is  curious  to  find  steam 
employed,  in  probably  the  most  ancient  of  made-dishes. 

In  this  simple  form,  or  with  buttermilk,  kuscoussoo 
constitutes  the  common  food  of  the  people.  Fowls  or 
meat,  when  used,  are  stewed  in  the  pot  over  which  it 
is  steamed  :  the  gravy  is  poured  over  it,  and  the  meat 
or  fowl  perched  on  the  top.  In  these  cases,  it  is  turned 
of  course  out  of  the  basket  into  an  earthen  dish. 
Gideon  in  his  cookery  used  a  basket  and  a  dish. 

A  still  more  remarkable  operation  is  that  of  eating 
it.  The  Moor  gets  his  kuscoussoo  into  his  mouth 
without  the  aid  of  a  spoon  ;  yet  neither  does  he  drop 
it,  nor  does  he  poke  in  the  plate  to  catch  greasy  grains, 
nor  smear  one  hair  of  his  moustache.  He  beats  the 
chopsticks  with  the  knowing  jerk  of  the  South  Sea 
islanders.      A    monkey    only    spills   his  kuscoussoo. 


400  MANNER   OF   EATING  KUSCOUSSOO. 

With  the  points  of  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  a 
portion  of  the  grains  is  drawn  towards  the  side  of  the 
dish.  It  is  fingered  as  the  keys  of  a  pianoforte  till 
it  gathers  together ;  it  is  then  taken  up  into  the  hand, 
shaken,  pressed  till  it  adheres,  moulded  till  it  becomes 
a  ball ;  tossed  up  and  worked  till  it  is  perfect,  and 
then  shot  by  the  thumb,  like  a  marble,  into  the  open 
mouth.*  Eaten  otherwise  it  is  no  longer  kuscoussoo, 
and  the  spoon-feeding  Frank  may  live  upon  it  for 
twenty  years,  and  never  know  what  it  is  that  he  is 
eating,  f 

Dr.  Shaw,  who  lived  so  long  at  Algiers  and  travelled 
all  over  Barbary,  has  remarked — but  not  accurately — 
these  peculiarities.  He  calls  the  ball  Hamsa,  mis- 
taking cause  for  effect.  The  name  of  the  ball  is  cora. 
Hamsa  is  a  slang  term  for  hand,  corresponding  with 
our  word  fives,  and  its  dexterity  being  peculiarly 
exhibited  in  this  operation,  they  may  have  jocularly 
answered  his  questions  about  it  with  that  word. 

*  When  eaten  with  buttermilk  they  use  spoons,  the  place  of 
which  is  here  supplied  by  enormous  mussel  shells — true  cochlearia. 
The  savoury  accompaniments  are  thus  absorbed,  and  the  ball 
acquires  that  consistency  which  gives  to  the  dish  its  zest. 

t  "  When  he  (the  Sultan)  is  intent  upon  a  piece  of  work,  or 
eager  to  have  it  finished,  he  won't  allow  himself  to  go  to  his 
meals,  but  orders  some  of  his  eunuchs  or  negroes  to  bring  him 
a  dish  of  kuscoussoo,  which  he  sits  down  and  eats  after  a  brutish 
manner ;  for  as  soon  as  he  has  rolled  up  the  sleeves  of  his  shirt, 
he  thrusts  his  arms  into  the  dish  up  to  his  elbows,  and  bringing 
a  handful  from  the  bottom  he  fills  his  mouth,  and  then  throws 
the  rest  into  the  dish  again,  and  so  on  till  he  is  satisfied." — 
Account  of  Barbary,  p,  92,  1713. 


SKILL   IN    EATING    KUSCOUSSOO.  401 

Marmol,  a  Christian  captive,  entertains  great  respect 
for  kuscoussoo,  but  Leo  Africanus,  a  Moor  of  Grenada, 
a  Mussulman  and  Prince  of  the  Land,  thus  reviles  it. 
"  In  winter  they  have  sodden  flesh  with  a  kind  of 
meat  called  Cuscusu,  which  being  made  of  a  lump  of 
dough,  is  set  upon  the  fire  in  certain  vessels  full  of 
holes,  and  afterwards  is  tempered  with  butter  and 
pottage.  The  said  cuscusu  is  set  before  them  all  in 
one  platter  only,  whereon  gentlemen  as  well  as  others 
take  it  not  with  spoons,  but  with  their  claws  five 
(Hamsa.)  The  meat  and  pottage  is  put  all  in  one 
dish,  out  of  which  every  one  raketh  with  his  greasy 
fists  what  he  thinks  good.  You  shall  never  see  knife 
upon  the  table,  but  they  tear  and  greedily  devour 
their  meat  like  hungry  dogs.  Neither  doth  any  of 
them  desire  to  drink  before  he  hath  well  stuffed  his 
paunch :  another  will  sup  of  a  cup  of  cold  water  as 
big  as  a  milk  bowl." 

M.  Roche,  who  had  the  advantage  of  Leo  by  a  double 
apostacy,  used  his  proficiency  in  the  opposite  sense, 
and  won  the  day  in  his  late  coup  de  main,  by  his 
dexterity  in  making  and  projecting  coras.  Kuscous- 
soo with  other  food  was  put  upon  a  table  for  him  ; 
knives,  forks,  and  spoons  were  laid  out ;  but  he  seized 
the  kuskas  or  kuscoussoo  dish,  squatted  down  with  it 
on  the  floor,  and  turned  up  the  sleeve  of  his  uniform, 
observing,  "  This  is  the  way  we  eat  kuscoussoo."  That 
other  extraordinary  adventurer,  AH  Bey,  who  was  sent 
by  the  Prince  of  Peace  with  the  scheme  of  revolution- 
izing Morocco,  until  the  Spanish  forces  should  be  ready 

VOL.  I.  1)    l» 


402  MOORISH   BREAD. 

to  land  to  take  possession  of  it,  was  equally  expert — 
in  fact,  it  was  a  sine  qud  non  of  admission  into  society. 

Vermicelli  and  macaroni  are  derived  from  kuscous- 
soo.  They  are  both  in  use  in  Morocco.  Vermicelli 
is  simply  the  grains  of  the  kuscoussoo  rolled  long ; 
it  is  then  called  spauria.  The  macaroni  is  served 
as  a  long  roll,  coiled  like  a  rope,  on  a  large  plate.  It 
is  called  Fidaoush.  The  Spanish  name*  for  macaroni 
is  fidaos,  Fideh,  the  Greek  (pihrh 

But  the  Moors  are  not  ignorant  of  the  art  of  making 
bread.  On  the  contrary,  they  abound  in  varieties,  and 
have  particular  kinds  for  particular  seasons.  The 
Spaniards  have  evidently  derived  from  them  their 
manner  of  baking,  in  which  the  dough  is  most  severely 
handled,  and  then,  but  very  slightly,  raised  or  baked. 
Their  bread  is  something  between  biscuit  and  bread  : 
those  who  have  not  eaten  it  in  Andalusia,  and  parti- 
cularly at  Seville,  do  not  know  what  bread  is. 

Fortunate  are  the  people  who  possess  a  dish  like 
kuscoussoo.  Any  comparison  between  them  and  the 
bread-eating  nations  is  very  difficult,  for  they  have 
economy  and  comforts  which  are  too  subtle  for  cal- 
culation. The  Indian  has  his  rice  and  curry.'''5"  The 
inhabitants  of  the  Eastern  and  Southern  portions  of 
Europe  have  their  dishes  (not  bread)  of  Indian  corn. 
The  Turks,  the  Persians,  the  Tartars,  the  Arabs,  have 
their  pilaf,  which  spreads  from  the  Adriatic  to  the 
Yellow  Sea  —  from  the  Yrtish  to  the  Indian  Ocean. 

*  They  use  flour,  but  not  as  bread.  It  is  made  like  porridge, 
and  eaten  with  milk. 


BREAD  AS  MADE  IN  ENGLAND.       403 

The  domain  of  kuscoussoo  extends  from  the  Red  Sea 
to  the  Atlantic.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
original  amongst  the  Arabs,  as  indeed  no  farinaceous 
food  could  be  ;  jet  it  has  the  unmistakable  impress 
of  antiquity.  Wheat  is  one  of  those  inventions  or 
introductions  which  in  Greece,  in  Egypt,  in  Etruria, 
has  a  date.  We  know  of  it  nowhere  as  original.  Its 
modern  use  is  imagined  to  be  restricted  to  the  Northern 
and  Western  portions  of  Europe.  It  is,  however, 
universal  in  Northern  Africa,  and  would  appear  to 
have  been  original  among  its  inhabitants  ;  and  I  infer 
that  we  are  indebted  for  it  to  the  Holy  Land.  If  we 
have  borrowed  from  the  Philistines  the  grain ;  we  have 
neglected — just  as  with  Indian  corn  and  rice — to 
borrow  the  proper  way  of  cooking  it.  In  these  other 
grains  we  cannot  be  brought  to  institute  any  com- 
parison ;  but  kuscoussoo  is  wheat. 

Bread  alone  will  not  serve  as  a  people's  diet,  and  is, 
moreover,  expensive.  We  separate  the  parts  of  the 
flour  which  are  adapted  to  one  another — and  so  best 
fitted  for  food — and  thus  the  coarse  bread  and  the  fine 
are  equally  deteriorated.  By  fermentation  the  nature 
of  the  grain  is  changed;*  and  by  the  baking,  while  in 
that  state,  considerable  loss  is  incurred  by  the  evapo- 
ration of  alcohol,  which  our  Excise  laws  now  forbid 
us  to  collect.      The  difference  in  point  of  economy 

*  The  effect  of  fermentation  on  food  was  not  overlooked  by 
the  ancients.  "  Panis  azymus,  ou  sans  levain,  Celse  dit  facile 
a  degirer :  les  modernes  ne  sont  pas  de  cet  avis." — Note  by 
Panko  liny,  L  xviii.  c.  27. 

DD  2 


404  BREAD  AS  MADE   IN    NEW   HOLLAND. 

cannot  be  less  than  a  quarter  in  favour  of  kuscoussoo  ; 
and  taking  it  as  furnishing  forth  the  meal  without  the 
adjuncts  which  our  labouring  classes  require,  it  will 
not  be  too  much  to  say  that,  bushel  for  bushel,  the 
grain  is  worth  to  them  the  double  of  what  it  is  to  us.* 
A  new  discovery  in  baking  has  been  made  in  New 
Holland,  in  consequence  of  the  ignorance  of  common 
arts  produced  by  the  subdivision  of  labour.  We  do 
not  know  baking  afloat ;  and  in  the  first  settlement 
of  that  colony,  the  women  were  from  the  cities, 
and  did  not  know  how  to  bake.  The  bakers  ap- 
pear to  be  a  moral  class,  for  the  men  were  equally 
ignorant.  The  colony  lived  for  years  on  biscuits,  and 
even  at  the  governor's  table  the  guests  were  in  the  habit 
of  bringing  their  own  biscuits.  The  convicts  could  not 
be  so  daintily  treated  :  their  weekly  allowance  of  flour 
was  served  out  to  them,  and  they  were  allowed  to  do 
with  it  what  they  liked,  when  accident  or  genius  led 
them  to  treat   it  in   this  manner.     Each  slaked   his 

*  "  Keep  a  man  on  brown  bread  and  water,  and  he  will  live  and 
enjoy  good  health  ;  give  him  white  bread  and  water  only,  and  he 
will  gradually  sicken  and  die.  The  brown  contains  all  the  in- 
gredients essential  to  the  composition  or  nourishment  of  our 
bodies.  Some  of  these  are  removed  by  the  miller  in  his  efforts  to 
please  the  public.  The  loss  by  fermentation  and  refining  taken 
together,  is  under-estimated  at  twenty -five  per  cent.  18,000,000 
quarters  of  wheat  are  made  into  bread  annually  in  England 
and  Wales  :  the  waste  is,  therefore,  4,500,000  quarters,  or 
3,357,000,0001bs.  of  bread,  or  eight  ounces  per  day  per  man. 
This  is  nearly  double  the  quantity  of  wheat  usually  imported ; 
and  amounts,  at  50s.  the  quarter,  to  11,250,000^.  sterling." — 
Pamphlet  on  Unfermented  Bread. 


"  DAMPER,"   INDIAN   CORN.  405 

fourteen  pounds  with  water,  and  having  made  it  into 
dough,  proceeded  to  beat  and  pummel  it  by  the  hour  : 
this  huge  mass  of  dough  was  then  tumbled  into  the  fire, 
the  ashes  having  been  raked  out  to  heap  over  it  when 
laid  in.  The  bread  so  made,  is  pronounced  by  those 
familiar  with  it,  excellent :  it  is  called  "  damper/"  from 
damping  the  fire.  It  is  not  wet  and  sodden  as  might 
be  supposed,  the  manipulation,  as  in  the  kuscoussoo, 
rendering  it  palatable,  and  being  perhaps  slightly 
raised  by  the  expansion  of  the  air  driven  in  by  the 
beating  which  it  receives  with  the  fist. 

I  cannot  return  from  this  dissertation  without  a 
word  on  the  cooking  of  the  two  other  grains  from 
which  national  dishes  are  made — Indian  corn  and  rice. 
The  uncertainties  attending  the  condition  of  our  own 
island,  increase  the  importance  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
best  methods  of  dressing  the  substances  that  might 
be  substituted  for  potatoes  ;  and  in  the  art  of  cookery, 
England  is  behind  every  other  people.* 

Indian  corn  does  not  do  when  eaten  cold.  As  bread, 
it  is  kneaded  with  water  and  fired  upon  the  griddle, 
and  then    eaten   hot  :  as   polenta   it  is  cooked  like 

*  "  Some  of  our  readers  may,  perhaps,  smile  at  the  idea  that 
the  poor  require  much  instruction  in  this  art.  The  first  and 
greatest  difficulty  with  them,  they  say,  is,  that  they  can  get  very 
little  food  to  cook.  This  is  too  true  ;  but  it  is  equally  true  that 
the  little  food  a  poor  family  obtains  is  not  made  the  best  of ;  and 
that  a  greater  variety  of  wholesome,  better- flavoured,  and  more 
nourishing  food  may  be  procured  by  an  improved  system  of 
cookery,  and  without  any  additional  expense.  In  many  cases, 
iml'  ->st  would    be   less    than    by  the    pn   ml     I  i 

method.       Fl<  Family  Economic  p.  1". 


406  MODE   OF   COOKING   PILAF. 

Scotch  porridge,  or  eaten  with  milk,  or  it  is  turned 
out  and  left  to  cool,  and  then,  when  wanted,  is  sliced 
and  cooked  on  the  gridiron  or  fried.  In  these  forms 
it  is  an  agreeable  and  wholesome  food.* 

Pilaf  is  a  dish,  which,  like  kuscoussoo,  has  its  secret. 
I  never  tasted  it  eatable  when  made  by  a  Christian. 
It  is  rice  and  butter,  and  the  art  depends  in  the 
manner  of  introducing  the  butter.  Boiled  with  the 
rice,  or  added  in  the  dish,  it  would  be  no  pilaf.  It 
is  only  a  person  deserving  the  name  of  cook,  who, 
after  several  failures,  might  succeed.  Such  a  person 
will  find  all  that  is  requisite  in  what  follows  : — 

The  salt  must  be  put  in  the  water  ;  the  pan  must  be 
thick  ;  the  quantity  of  water  must  be  adapted  to  the 
rice,  which  varies,  so  that  when  the  rice  is  cooked,  the 
whole  water  be  absorbed.     It  must  never  be  touched 

*  Humboldt  has  decided  that  for  maize  (Zea  maize)  the  old 
continent  is  indebted  to  the  new.  If  so,  it  would  carry  its  own 
name,  or  receive  a  descriptive  one.  Tobacco  we  can  trace  as 
tobacco,  or  as  "  smoke  "  tcairvbg  (Tuturi).  Potatoes  by  that  name, 
or  as  "  root  apples  :"  not  so  maize.  The  Greeks  call  it  Arabic 
'Apa.7rocriTi.  The  Turks,  Egyptian  (Missir  Bogda).  On  the  Black 
Sea,  it  is  Oucuruzzi.  The  Arabs  of  Egypt  call  it  Doura  Shamee, 
or  Grain  of  Damascus.  The  Bulgarians  call  it  Callambohi. 
Throughout  the  Indian  archipelago  it  is  known  as  Sagung.  In 
one  of  the  Egyptian  tombs  there  is  a  figure  holding  a  head  of 
Indian  corn  ;  but  this  a  learned  writer  will  not  admit,  "  because 
that  grain  was  introduced  into  Europe  from  Virginia."  Is  it  the 
ksob  of  Negroland  1  the  Droueu  and  Beshna  of  various  parts  of 
north  Africa  1 — See  Egyptian  Antiquities,  Lib.  Ent.  Knowledge, 
vol.  ii.  p.  30  ;  Wilkinson,  vol.  i.  p.  397  ;  Crawford's  Indian  Archi- 
pelago, vol.  i.  p.  366  ;  Bradford's  American  Antiquities,  p.  418; 
Carette's  Algeria,  vol.  ii. 


REFLECTIONS   ON   DIET.  407 

or  stirred  while  cooking.  Butter  is  then  put  in  a 
frying-pan ;  the  proportions  experience  will  teach. 
When  it  boils  up,  it  is  poured  over  the  rice,  which 
sputters  and  swells ;  then  one  turn  with  a  spoon  is 
given,  and  it  is.  put  on  the  fire  for  a  moment,  and 
must  be  served  up  hot  in  the  pan.  The  Mussulmans 
with  this,  end  their  dinner,  to  show  that  they  have 
not  eaten  to  gratify  appetite,  but  to  supply  want  ;  and 
they  have  a  saying,  that  every  pilaf  a  man  does  not 
eat,  will  rise  up  against  him  at  the  day  of  judgment. 

My  attention  was  first  turned  to  their  diet  by  this 
people's  splendid  teeth.  Nothing  can  better  exhibit 
the  quality  of  the  food  they  masticate.  Amongst  us 
clean  teeth,  except  by  being  cleaned,  is  a  thing  un- 
known. Without  dentrifices,  and  without  brushes,  their 
teeth  are  pure  and  clean — the  sure  sign  that  they  are 
free  from  those  acids,  which  in  us  produce  the  greater 
portion  of  our  diseases  ;  while  by  the  continual  strain 
upon  the  sources  of  vitality,  they  shorten  life  and 
diminish  its  contentment  while  it  lasts. 

The  first  of  blessings  to  an  individual  is  health ;  and 
the  next,  supposing  it  not  the  cause,  sobriety.  If 
these  be  of  such  value  to  the  individuals,  of  what  value 
must  they  not  be  to  a  nation  %  Yet  these  are  points 
at  which  no  constitution  has  ever  aimed  ;  they  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  legislator,  philosopher,  or  school- 
master ;  they  can  come  only  from  habit,  and  of  this 
habit  the  cook  is  the  original  and  source.  It  is  not 
without  cause  that  man  has  been  defined  a  cooking 
animal.    It  is  in  the  cooking  of  the  race,   that  its 


408  REFLECTIONS  ON   DIET. 

sense  is  first  tested,  oftenest  exercised,  and  longest 
enjoyed.  Rigid  Lacedsemon  honoured  cooks  as  she 
did  victors  at  the  Olympic  games ;  and  although  no  pro- 
fessional artist  might  breathe  her  air,  still  to  unbought 
excellence  in  the  culinary  art  she  reared  statues.  * 

How  rational  to  distinguish  nations,  as  formerly,  by 
their  food.  In  ancient  times  the  listener  was  not 
sickened  with  hearing  about  Sclavonic  or  German 
or  Anglo-Saxon  "  race  f  neither  was  he  distracted  with 
"aristocratic,"  "monarchical."  When  they  wanted 
to  show  what  a  man  was,  they  said,  "  he  is  a  fish- 
eater,"  or  a  "  lotus-eater."  So  the  oracular  response  to 
the  Spartans,  "  Beware  of  them,  they  live  on  acorns." 

Within  the  last  few  years  an  immense  amount  of 
talent  and  science  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
diet ;  and  contrasting  the  works  that  have  been  pro- 
duced with  anything  that  has  gone  before,  one  remains 
in  astonishment  at  the  advantages  which  in  this  respect 
we  possess.  Yet  what  is  the  profit  \  A  few  persons  may 
read  these  speculations  in  their  library  chairs ;  but 
what  are  the  advantages  even  to  these  at  the  dinner- 
tables  \  Come  here  and  you  will  see  economic  food 
and  the  healthiest  people,  who  have  no  "  animal  che- 
mistry," and  yet  illustrate  in  their  practice  that  which 
we  reason  about  in  books. 

*  Formerly  every  private  soldier  cooked  in  turn  for  his  mess. 
In  this  respect,  at  all  events,  they  preserved  the  temper  and  the 
tone  of  the  heroic  ages,  where  the  chiefs  did  not  disdain  to  use 
the  spit.  The  revolution  of  February — the  Labour  Revolution — 
comes,  and  is  followed  by  a  new  subdivision,  the  appointment  of 
forty-nine  cooks  to  every  regiment. 


ARAB  MANNER   OF   STORING   GRAIN.  409 

One  of  the  weightiest  utensils  to  transport  is  the 
handmill,  and  one  of  the  heaviest  occupations  of  the 
tent  is  grinding.  How  large  a  share  it  occupied  in  the 
domestic  life  of  Judaea,  the  repeated  allusions  to  it  in 
the  Sacred  Writings  bear  testimony.  Travellers  are 
always  struck  by  the  amount  of  labour  thus  thrown 
away.  A  learned  commentator  selects  the  long  conti- 
nuance of  this  practice  to  illustrate  the  stupidity  of  the 
human  race.  This  is  to  suppose  an  Arab  tent  in  the 
same  row  with  a  baker's  shop,  or  with  a  farm- yard 
and  a  granary  attached  to  it.  If  they  used  a  wind- 
mill they  would  have  to  carry  it  about  with  them  ;  and 
if  a  water-mill,  they  would  require  the  rivulet's  attend- 
ance in  their  peregrinations.  The  only  variety  in  the 
landscape  of  the  Zakel,  is  here  and  there  the  tomb  of 
a  saint  :  the  only  houses  are  those  appointed  for  all 
living.     Have  they  then  no  stores  of  grain  % 

On  the  spot  where  it  is  harvested  it  is  thrashed,  win  - 
nowed,  and  treasured  up.  Holes  are  dug  in  the  earth 
and  lined  with  straw  ;  these  are  called  Matmores  : 
there  the  grain  may  be  kept  a  hundred  or  a  thousand 
years,  protected  from  rot,  mildew,  and  man.  By  this 
practice  they  are  secured  against  the  uncertainties  of 
the  seasons  and  fluctuation  in  price.  These  reservoirs, 
when  forgotten,  may  be  discovered  by  examining  the 
verdure  in  spring,  when  it  begins  to  lose  its  freshness. 
Over  the  matmore  the  change  is  first  perceptible,  as  it 
is  dryer  beneath.  Twenty  years  ago,  four  or  five  suc- 
cessive harvests  were  destroyed  by  drought  and  locusts ; 
famine  and    pestilence  ensued  ;    and   but    for   these 


410  ARAB   MANNER   OF   STORING   GRAIN. 

stores  the  country  must  have  been  depopulated.* 
There  is  an  exportation  of  corn  making  at  present  to 
Dublin ;  —  permission  has  been  granted  for  50,000 
fanegas,  or  little  more  than  a  bushel ; — it  would  cost 
6s.  6d.  landed  at  Dublin,  or  under  405.  a  quarter. 
The  last  exportation  of  grain  was  ten  years  ago, 
when  Spain  being  in  great  need,  permission  was 
granted ;  and  from  the  roadstead  of  Dar  el  Baida 
alone,  45,000  quarters  were  exported  without  sen- 
sibly augmenting  the  price. 

To  effect  the  change  from  the  handmill  to  the  water 
or  windmill,  the  matmores  would  have  to  be  replaced 
by  standing  granaries  :  standing  granaries  would  re- 
quire fixed  habitations ;  fixed  habitations  would  require 
walled  cities.  In  the  country  where  I  am  writing,  the 
land  would  not  suffice  to  support  these,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  extinction  of  the  population  would  be 
the  consequence.  Elsewhere,  where  the  land  is  more 
fertile,  it  would  place  the  tribes  at  the  mercy  of  the 
governor,  and  the  whole  fabric  would  fall  to  pieces. 

The  aim  of  the  political  economist  is  to  accumulate 
profit — to  make  money  ;  to  turn,  every  way,  soil  and 
toil  into  the  banker's  books.  The  end  of  the  legis- 
lator is  exactly  the  reverse.  He  knows  that  the 
danger  to  society  is  from  the  accumulations  of  profit. 
He  knows  that  wealth  draws  wealth,  and  engenders 

*  The  Lydians  had  the  same  practice.  It  may  account  for  their 
enduring  the  long  famine,  which  led  to  the  emigration  of  the 
Tyrseni,  and  for  the  provisioning  of  their  ships — See  Drummond's 
Origines,  b.  vi.  c.  7. 


ARAB   HOSPITALITY.  411 

power,  and  brings  the  fall  of  states.  By  legislators  I 
mean  those  who  have  proved  themselves  such  by  their 
works — the  states  which  they  have  built  up. 

In  early  times  we  always  find  the  chiefs  possessing 
the  greatest  ascendancy  over  their  people.  How  is  it 
they  lose  this  authority  %  Is  it  not  when,  to  the  in- 
fluence of  blood  and  station,  they  have  added  the 
influence  of  wealth  \  Institutions,  therefore,  calculated 
to  make  a  people  happy,  and  preserve  it  long,  must 
effect  the  very  reverse  of  modern  science,  and  must 
prevent  the  accumulation  of  capital,  and  equalize  the 
distribution  of  food. 

This  end  is  obtained  amongst  the  Arabs,  not  by 
laws  or  institutions,  but  simply  through  hospitality. 
No  human  creature  enters  an  Arab  douar  and  goes 
without  a  bellyful,  and  of  this  the  charge  falls  upon 
the  chief.  When  I  obtained  a  new  method  of  pre- 
paring wheat,  of  cooking  a  dish  and  eating  it ;  I  also 
observed  a  new  method  and  manner  of  distributing  it. 
The  tent  was  like  a  tavern  without  bells.  Half  of 
Sheik  Tibi's  substance  goes  in  kuscoussoo.  It  is  an 
extraordinary  thing  to  see  ;  it  is  slowly  that  the  mind 
takes  it  in ;  it  is  difficult  to  convey  it  to  another — 
and  testimony  is  requisite.  In  Mr.  Davidson's  Journal 
there  is  a  corroboratory  passage,  which  is  all  the  more 
valuable  as  coming  from  one  who  had  no  conception  of 
the  value  of  the  fact  he  recorded.  Speaking  of  the  great 
Sheik  of  Suz,  he  says,  "  The  Sheik,  rich  and  powerful 
;i>  he  ii,  dam  not  shut  his  door  against  the  dirtiest 
beast  who  thinks  proper  to  enter.     The  kuscoussoo,  or 


412    MUSSULMAN  REVERENCE  FOR  BREAD. 

teapot,  is  a  general  invitation,  and  all  may  come  in 
and  feed."  This  is  the  interpretation  of  those  words 
of  Isaiah,  "  Thou  hast  clothing  —  be  thou  our  ruler," 
as  of  the  reply,  "  In  mine  home  there  is  neither  bread 
nor  clothing  —  make  me  not  a  ruler."  Of  the  patri- 
archal period  in  our  own  state,  we  have  a  record  in 
the  title,  Lord,  which  meant  the  giver  of  bread.  The 
word  "government"  is  itself  derived  from  the  same 
source,  and  to-day  in  the  streets  of  Athens  a  beggar 
will  approach  you  with  these  words,  "zfifisgwl  pov — 
govern  me,  ix.  give  me  food."  Amongst  the  Turks, 
where  ceremonial  is  the  bond,  rank  is  given  to  bread. 
If  a  Mussulman  sees  a  bit  of  bread  on  the  ground, 
he  reverentially  picks  it  up,  kisses  it,  and  then  places 
it  in  some  position  where  it  may  be  seen  and  used,  if 
requisite,  by  man  or  beast.  *  If  the  Sultan  were  to 
come  into  a  room  where  the  humblest  were  sitting  at 
food,  they  would  not  rise  to  receive  him — his  dignity 
is  effaced  in  presence  of  the  "  gift  of  God  ;"  thus,  a 
mendicant  may  place  himself  at  the  table  of  the  Yizir. 
A  person  who  could  not  be  asked  to  partake  of  coffee, 
who  could  not  presume  to  be  seen  with  a  pipe,  may 

*  Lord  Clarendon  relates,  that  in  the  fire  of  London,  a  servant 
of  the  Portuguese  Ambassador  was  seized  and  roughly  handled, 
on  the  accusation  of  a  citizen,  who  swore  that  he  saw  him  throw 
a  fireball  into  a  house,  which  immediately  burst  into  flames.  The 
foreigner,  so  soon  as  the  charge  was  translated  to  him,  explained 
that  he  saw  a  piece  of  bread  lying  on  the  ground,  and  according 
to  the  custom  of  his  country,  picked  it  up  and  laid  it  on  a  shelf 
in  the  nearest  house.  The  house  was  searched  :  the  bread  was 
found  upon  a  board  just  within  the  door. 


HOSPITALITY   AS    PRACTISED   IN   MOROCCO.   413 

be  invited  to  sit  down  to  dinner.  The  breaking  of 
bread,  the  most  solemn  mystery  of  our  faith,  has,  in 
this  respect,  a  meaning  which  we  cannot  read.  In  the 
East,  the  injunction  of  Christ  to  turn  not  away  from 
him  who  asketh,  is  universally  observed.  *  We  cannot 
observe  that  rule,  because  we  have  produced  such  an 
amount  of  pauperism  that  no  private  charity  can  suffice, 
and  we  have  destroyed  the  practice  of  charity,  so  that  it 
shall  not  suffice  ;  then  we  reconcile  faith  and  disobe- 
dience by  treating  the  injunction  as  a  metaphor. 

In  the  Moorish  government,  the  practice  of  the 
tribes  is  now  reversed,!  but  still  the  traces  are  not  all 
lost.  "  The  Kings  of  Fez,"  says  Marmol,  "  have  a  cus- 
tom to  have  their  food  brought  publicly  to  the  Hall 
of  Audience,  where,  every  morning,  they  receive  the 
compliments  of  the  princes  and  the  great  men.  After 
the  king  has  eaten  two  or  three  mouthfuls — for  he 
never  eats  more  in  public — the  dish  (of  kuscoussoo) 
is  turned  from  before  him,  and  his  children,  or  his 
brothers,  if  they  are  present,  approach,  and  each  take 
a  mouthful  and  return  to  their  places.  Then  the 
great  personages  and  the  common  come  by  order  of 
their  degrees,  till,  at  last,  the  very  porters  and  the 
guards;   for  all  those  who  are  in  the   hall,  great  or 

*  "  We  had  quarters  assigned  us ;  I  with  one  peasant,  and 
my  comrade  with  another.  We  had  free  board,  and  the  peasants 
(Turkish)  exercised  hospitality  as  though  it  was  a  matter  of 
course." — Wanderings  of  a  Journeyman  Tailor ',  p.  97. 

t  One  of  the  charges  against  Koulayh  Wail,  the  first  tviant 
of  Southern  Arabia,  was,  that  he  "  monopolised  hospitality." — 
See  Lamgal  A I '  < 


414   HOSPITALITY   AS   PRACTISED   IN   MOROCCO- 

little,  must  taste  much  or  little,  because  they  believe 
that  it  is  a  sin  to  eat  alone,  without  offering  to  those 
who  look  at  you.  The  princes  and  governors  in  the 
province  do  each  the  same  thing.  Every  one  eats 
once  a  day  of  kuscoussoo,  because  it  costs  little  and 
nourishes  much."* 

*  Fill  not  thy  belly  in  presence  of  the  longing 
eye."  What  are  all  our  homilies  on  charity  to  this  % 
What  all  our  constitutions  %  This  is  not  a  proposi- 
tion ;  it  is  a  maxim,  a  rule  of  conduct  ;  it  is  a  habit 
— that  is,  a  self-enforcing  law. 

What  is  the  evil  eye  ?  How  should  such  a  fancy 
have  taken  root  %  I  once  commended  a  child's 
beauty  :  the  nurse  immediately  spat  in  its  face.  I 
asked  the  reason  ;  she  answered,  "  Against  your  evil 
eye."  Pride  was  there  the  spell,  humiliation  the 
fascinum.  The  figure  of  a  hand  is  the  ordinary 
talisman.f  The  open  hand  denotes  generosity,  the 
closed  one  firmness.  The  hand  so  used  is  neither 
closed  nor  open,  two  fingers  being  doubled,  two  ex- 
tended.    What   can   this  signify,  if  not  a  measured 

*  Africa,  vol.  ii.  p.  193. 

f  "  If  I  have  witheld  the  poor  from  his  desire,  or  caused  the 
eyes  of  the  widow  to  fail,  or  have  eaten  my  morsel  alone,  and  the 
fatherless  hath  not  eaten  with  me.  If  I  have  seen  any  perish 
for  want  of  clothing,  or  any  poor  without  covering.  If  his  loins 
have  not  blessed  me,  and  if  he  were  not  warmed  with  the  fleece 
of  my  sheep." — Job  xxxi. 

"  Many,  of  course,  were  the  Telzemi  used  against  the  evil  eye. 
I  have  selected  the  hand  only  as  affording  the  key.  The  Bulla 
were  worn  by  the  Etruscans,  from  whom  the  Romans  copied  them, 


HOSPITALITY  DISAPPEARED  FROM  CHRISTENDOM.    415 

participation  of  what  you  enjoy  to  prevent  the  long- 
ing, from  becoming  the  "evil,"  eye  ?  Associated  as 
the  hand  is  with  kuscoussoo,  the  emblem  is  appropri- 
ate. That  superstition  has  cheered  many  a  heavy 
spirit  and  relaxed  many  a  girded  heart,  and  is  cheaper 
than  a  poor-law. 

Thus,  by  the  maxims,  habits,  and  domestic  practices 
and  superstitions  which  centre  in  and  support  hospita- 
lity— not  the  hospitality  that  invites  a  compeer,  but 
which  confers  food  and  raiment  upon  the  destitute  — 
are  the  inequalities  of  the  human  condition  moderated ; 
alike  prevented  from  being  greatly  diverse,  the  balance 
is  maintained  between  wealth  and  numbers,  and  the 
classes  cemented  to  each  other.  As  on  the  one  side 
there  can  be  none  absolutely  destitute,  so  can  there 
be  none  excessively  rich  ;  and  in  all  cases  riches  must 
flow  in  benefits  around.  It  is  a  melancholy  fact,  that 
hospitality  has  disappeared  in  Christendom  —  not  in 
practice  only,  but  in  every  thought  —  and  therefore 
are  our  minds  a  chaos,  as  well  as  our  condition.  Nor 
is  there  remedy.  Science  may  be  taught,  but  not 
simplicity  ;  and  duties  which  we  have  superseded  by 
legislation,  we  shall  presently  prohibit  by  law. 

as  protection  against  it.  The  Bulla  (five  in  number)  were  like- 
wise in  use  among  the  Arabs,  but  abolished  by  Islam.  "  Most  of 
them  still  wear  on  their  necks  the  ornaments  of  infancy." — Mo- 

tenabbi.      These   ornaments    were   berries  of  plants,  {_fi\^ji 

Ciireath,  Arabe,  t.  Hi.  p.  41. 

The  Phallus  was  also  used  for  the  same  purpose. — Pliny, 
Three  together  are  sculptured  on  polygonal  walls,  in  the  Sabine 
territory  at  Zerui ;  and  in  the  Etruscan  land  at  Todi  in  Umbria, 
&c. — Dennis,  v<>1.  ii.  p,  122.    Also  in  Lydia.    See  Fellows'  Lv<lia. 


416       DOMESTIC   EMPLOYMENTS   IN   THE  TENT. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  HAIK. 


However  extensive  the  culinary  operations  in  the 
chieftain's  tent,  they  did  not  absorb  the  whole  care  of 
his  household.  Simultaneously  were  going  on  the 
plaiting  of  baskets,  the  weaving  of  stuffs,  the  churn- 
ing of  butter,  the  preparing  of  skins,  and  the  casting 
of  bullets.  The  mould  is  two  pieces  of  slate  for  half- 
a-dozen  bullets  at  a  time.  The  bow  and  arrow  of  the 
Numidian  hunter  having  given  way  to  the  musket, 
this  might  be  considered,  at  least,  a  modern  invention. 
But  no,  they  were  slingers  as  well  as  bowmen,  and  in 
the  manufacture  of  leaden  pellets,  they  were  so  ex- 
pert, that,  as  JElian  tells  us,  Caesar  had  supplies  from 
hence.  The  dwarf  palm  presents  them  with  materials 
for  tents,  ropes,  baskets,  dishes,  &c.  The  plant  is  called 
Bourn  or  Jumard;  the  fan-like  leaf,  Lyzaf,  serves  for 
baskets,  and  their  dishes  are  baskets.  From  the  fibrous 
substance  round  the  stalk  or  root,  Lif,  they  spin 
thread,  which  they  weave  for  the  tent-covering,  and 
spread  out  upon  the  ground,  passing  the  thread  with 
the  hand.  The  haiks  are,  of  course,  home-made :  those 
for  the  wromen  and  children  have  sprigs  or  lines  of 


MANUFACTURE   OF   THE   HAIK.  417 

bright  and  lively  colour.  The  weaving  is  more 
ancient  *  than  the  "  flying  shuttle "  of  Job,  and  is 
done  by  hand,  as  the  Cashmere  shawls,  or  Arras 
tapestry.  The  warp,  which  is  very  slender,  is  sus- 
pended ;  the  woof,  thick  and  slightly  twisted,  is  passed 
by  the  hand  ;  when  there  are  colours,  there  is  a  ball 
for  each  ;  every  colour  in  the  pattern  is  one  thread. 
After  the  thread  is  passed,  a  flat  heavy  iron  with  short 
spikes,  protruding  like  a  comb,  is  used  to  beat  it 
down,  when  it  gains  the  character  of  felt. 

But  this  vestment  is  of  too  great  importance  in  a 
domestic,  manufacturing,  political,  hygeian,  and  pic- 
turesque point  of  view,  to  dispose  of  thus.  We 
travel  thousands  of  miles  to  see  an  old  ruin.  Ad- 
venturer after  adventurer  staked  his  life  against  a 
glimpse  of  the  interior  sands  of  Africa.  Here  is  the 
swaddling  bands  of  a  race.  Is  it  not  worth  turning 
over  and  handling,  and  seeing  what  it  is  made  of,  and 
how  it  fits  ? 

THE    HAIK. 

If  Prometheus  had  set  himself  down  to  consider, 
not  how  many  things  he  could  invent  for  man,  but 

*  Much  akin  to  this  is  the  weaving  among  the  Red  Indians. 
*  The  hair  of  the  buffalo  and  other  animals  is  twisted  by  hand, 
and  made  into  balls.  The  warp  is  then  laid,  of  a  length,  crossed 
by  three  small,  smooth  rods,  alternately  beneath  the  threads,  sus- 
pended on  forks  at  a  short  distance  above  the  ground.  The 
woof  is  filled  in,  thread  by  thread,  and  pressed  closely  down. 
The  ends  of  the  warp  are  tied  into  knots,  and  the  blanket  is 
ready  for  use." — Huntkr'b  Captivity,  p.  289. 

VOL.    1.  E  R 


418  CONVENIENCE   OF   THE   HAIK. 

what  single  invention  would  serve  him  most,  he 
might  have  fixed  on  the  ha'ik.  It  is  not  known  in 
Arabia,  Judaea,  or  any  part  of  the  East.  It  is  men- 
tioned by  no  ancient  writer  ;  yet  on  its  intrinsic  cha- 
racters, I  claim  for  it  the  rank  of  first  parent  of  cos- 
tume. It  is  found  in  Barbary.  Who  then  shall  assign 
to  it  a  date  ?  The  region  is  a  nook  in  the  ocean  of 
time,  where  the  wrecks  of  all  ages  are  cast  up,  and 
here,  like  the  moon,  these  things  are  found,  which  are 
lost  elsewhere. 

A  shuttle  and  loom  to  weave,  pins  to  knit,  scissors 
to  cut,  or  needles  and  thread  to  sew,  are  requisite  for 
every  other  dress ;  the  haik  dispenses  with  them  all. 
It  is  a  web,  but  not  wove  (in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  word);  it  is  a  covering,  but  neither  cut  nor 
stitched.  When  Eve  had  to  bethink  herself  of  a 
durable  substitute  for  innocence,  this  is  what  she  must 
have  hit  upon.  The  name  it  bears  is  such  as  Adam 
might  have  given,  had  he  required  it  in  Paradise, 
"that  which  is  wove?  i.e.  web. 

It  is  only  a  web,  yet  is  it  coat,  great-coat,  trousers, 
petticoat,  under  and  over  garment,  enough  for  all 
and  everything  in  one.  Being  but  the  simplest  of 
primitive  inventions,  it  outvies  in  beauty,  and  over- 
matches in  convenience  the  succeeding  centuries  of 
contrivance  and  art :  it  completes  the  circle,  the  last 
step  being  not  to  return  to,  but  merely  to  perceive  the 
beauty  of  the  first  conception,  and  yield  a  barren  and 
aesthetic  applause  to  the  perfection  of  the  primitive 
design. 


ITS   ORIGIN.  419 

It  is  the  only  costume  to  which  the  language  of 
the  Bible  is  adapted,  or  by  which  its  metaphors  are 
intelligible.  When  I  had  seen  it,  I  understood 
"rending  the  garments;"  "Justice  as  a  garment;" 
"girding  with  power  ;*  "robing  with  light,"  "clothing 
with  a  cloud" 

Adam's  names  were  given,  not  only  as  a  description 
but  with  perfect  knowledge  of  objects,  which  seem 
removed  from  the  ken  of  man,  until  long  labour  and 
accumulated  experience  had  found  the  order  and  the 
purpose  of  nature.  What  can  be  more  exact  as  a  logical 
definition,  or  more  striking  as  a  poetic  image  than 
the  "day,"  (DV)— an  "agitator;"  the  earth,  (pN 
from  sn)  a  "  runner."  The  heart  derives  its  name 
from  its  action,  21*? ;  the  lever,  T2D,  from  its 
weight. 

The  objection  will  doubtless  be  urged,  that  the 
Easterns  do  not  change  their  fashions,  or  lose  their 
habits,  and  if  the  haik  ever  was  in  Palestine,  it  would 
still  be  there.  I  answer,  two  successive  races  have 
been  driven  forth  from  the  Holy  Land.  The  first 
three  thousand  years  ago,  the  second  nearly  two  thou- 
sand. Both  of  these,  at  present,  wear  it  in  Morocco. 
The  Jews,  when  expatriated,  adopted  elsewhere  the 
costume  of  the  country  wherein  they  settled,  their  own 
being  proscribed  ;  and  those  at  present  found  in  the 
Holy  Land  have  returned  thither  with  foreign  usages, 
the  very  language  being  the  Castilian.  Thus,  all  that 
belonged  to  the  Philistine  and  the  Hebrew,  has  been 
swept  away,   and  the  original   features  of  that  most 

E  b  2 


420  MYSTIC   GARMENT   OF  THE   JEWS. 

interesting  of  all  countries  have  been,  by  Chaldean  or 
Egyptian,  Persian  or  Parthian,  Greek  or  Roman,  Pagan 
or  Christian,  utterly  effaced. 

The  Jew  under  his  common  clothing  wears  a  mystic 
garment.  Why  he  wears  it,  or  when  the  practice 
arose,  neither  wise  nor  simple  can  tell.  In  vain  is  the 
Rabbi  appealed  to,  the  Talmudist  consulted  to  explain 
the  Tisit,  which  from  Archangel  to  Suz,  every  Israelite 
puts  on  in  the  morning  and  takes  off  at  night ;  or  of 
the  Talith  which  he  wears  in  the  synagogue  when  he 
prays.*  Yet  the  meaning  is  as  plain  as  if  printed  in 
an  Encyclopaedia. 

These  names  do  not  occur  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
no  mention  is  made  of  them  in  the  "  Six  hundred  and 
thirteen  Fundamental  precepts  of  Judaism,"  promul- 
gated after  the  return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity  to 
enforce  and  maintain  the  ceremonial  law,  and  which 
continue  to  be  their  code  of  life  and  manners.  No 
mention  of  them  is  made  in  the  New  Testament,  or 
in  Josephus,  or  Hecateus,  or  any  writer  who  treats  of 
the  Jews.  Yet  as  this  practice  is  universal,  its  date 
must  have  been  antecedent  to  their  dispersion  :  what 
more  clear  than  that,  when  forbidden  to  appear  in 
their  costume,  they  preserved  it  in  the  sanctuary,  and 
in  secret  bound  an  image  of  it  to  their  hearts  ?  What 
more   touching  record   of  the   sorrows  of  an   exiled 

*  "  When  the  Jews  come  to  receive  the  king,  none  but  the 
person  who  carries  the  Book  of  the  Law  shall  wear  Talith,  or  the 
cloth  over  their  clothes ;  nor  in  carrying  a  corpse  for  interment 
are  they  to  wear  it,  or  chant  in  the  streets." — Cortes  of  Toledo^ 
1480,  Sect.  117. 


THE   HAIK   A   JEWISH   GARMENT.  421 

people  ?  *  Linked  together  by  oppression,  they  have 
since  clung  to  a  practice  which  they  have  ceased  to 
comprehend,  and  the  token  handed  down  by  their 
fathers  they  respect  as  a  religious  observance  or  cabal- 
istic sign,  and  venerate  the  stuff  for  its  fringes,t  not 
for  its  former  memory  or  future  promise.^  The  Tisit  is 
a  small  Talith,  the  Talith  a  miniature  haik.§  The  only 
difference  is  in  the  distribution  of  the  fringes,  and  in 
the  borders  :  the  haik  has  the  fringe  at  the  ends  and  no 
border.  A  blue  border  was  enjoined  by  the  cere- 
monial law.     The  Abyssinians  wear  it  still. || 

I  do  not  think  that  I  need  say  one  word  more  on 
this  point;  nor  can  I  imagine,  under  the  circum- 
stances, any  proof  more  conclusive  that  the  haik  was 
the  clothing  of  the  people  of  Judaea.  If  this  be  not 
admitted,  it  will  have  to  be  shown,  or  supposed  — 
the  one  as  difficult  as  the  other  —  that  the  succes- 

*  The  Emperor  of  Russia  has  published  a  ukase  in  favour  of 
the  Jews,  to  put  an  end  to  the  invidious  distinctions  in  dress. 
The  Jews,  though  wearing  no  longer  that  of  Judaea,  look  on  the 
boon  as  the  hardest  of  their  trials. 

t  If  two  threads  of  the  fringe  were  worn,  it  was  worthless. 

X  There  is  a  Jewish  prayer  for  the  restoration,  beginning^ 
"  Bring  us  in  peace  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  and  lead 
us  safely  to  our  land."  As  they  repeat  it,  they  hold  the  fow 
corners  of  the  Talith  to  the  heart. 

§  Plates  of  the  Talith  are  given  in  "  Modern  Judaism,"  pp.  69, 
70,  80.  The  small  Talith,  which  among  the  European  Jews  is 
worn  like  the  scapula,  over  breast  and  back,  has  in  Morocco  no 
aperture,  and  is  worn  crosswise,  exactly  as  the  haik  is  put  on. 

||  In  Prisse's  "  Egypt  and  Abyssinia"  there  are  figures  which 
might  be  taken  for  Roman  senators,  only  that  the  border  is  blue 
instead  of  red. 


422  ARGUMENT  TO   PROVE 

sive  emigrants,  when  they  collected  here,  invented  a 
new  costume,  and  abandoned  that  which  they  had 
previously  worn.  I  have  already  referred  to  the 
metaphorical  language  of  Scripture,  applying  to  loose 
drapery,  and  not  to  fitted  clothes  ;  such  must  have 
been  the  dress  then  worn  :  there  is  no  Eastern  dress 
of  the  present  day  to  which  it  will  apply.  It  is 
only  by  forgetting  our  own  costume  that  any 
grave  thought  can  be  associated  with  the  expression, 
"  baring  the  arm  :  "  tucking  up  the  sleeves,  or  appear- 
ing in  shirt-sleeves,  would  be  a  metaphor  amongst  us 
suited  to  a  scullery  or  a  slaughter-house.  "  Girding  of 
the  loins"  is  nonsensical,  not  only  with  our  costume 
but  with  every  other :  the  person  is  already  dressed. 
If  the  girdle  be  part  of  the  dress,  it  is  already  on ;  a 
supplementary  one  is  not  carried  about.  This  absur- 
dity has  been  felt  by  the  translators ;  for  when  they 
make  Christ  "gird"*  himself  to  wash  the  feet  of  the 
Apostles,  they  add,  f  with  a  towel."  The  terms  in 
Greek,  wegiZpwvps,  amZpvvvpi,  are  appropriate,  and 
describe  what  a  Moor  would  do,  viz.,  draw  the  fold  of 

*  Commentators  are  misled  by  the  sword-belt,  and  the  inner 
girdle  over  the  tunic.  Thus ;  there  is  mention  of  the  girdle 
of  Elijah  and  of  John  the  Baptist,  remarkable  because  of  leather 
(2  Kings  i.  7,  8  ;  Markiii.  4),  and  because  they  wore  no  haik. 
The  Moors,  though  they  do  not  "  gird"  themselves  with  girdles, 
wear  one,  but  it  is  under  the  haik  and  over  the  tunic,  and  has 
a  remarkable  buckle.  A  buckle,  as  the  sign  of  royalty,  was  sent 
to  Antiochus  by  Jonathan  Maccabees.  No  other  Eastern  people 
has  a  girdle  and  buckle.  Drawers,  such  as  the  Levites  were 
enjoined  to  wear,  complete  the  Moorish  dress. 


THE   HA1K    WORN    IN    JUDiEA.  423 

the  haik,  which  hangs  over  the  left  shoulder,  and  pass- 
ing it  round  the  waist,  bind  the  whole  tight,  and  leave 
the  arms  free.  In  like  manner  the  expression,  "  the 
sin  that  most  easily  besetteth  us,"  implies,  "  the  fold 
most  closely  drawn  around  us." 

On  the  night  of  the  flight  from  Egypt,  the  Jews 
were  ordered  (Exodus  xii.  34,)  to  bind  up  their  knead- 
ing-troughs  in  their  clothes  upon  their  shoulders. 
What  clothes  are  requisite  for  carrying  on  the  shoul- 
ders a  kneading  trough  \     The  haik. 

Why  kneading-troughs  %  The  Jews  did  not  carry 
ovens  with  them.  Cakes  are  kneaded,  one  by  one,  on 
a  board  or  stone,  and  then  laid  upon  the  hot  stones  or 
embers,  or  griddle."""  Such  is  the  practice  of  every  no- 
made  tribe :  a  kneading-trough  would  be  of  no  use. 
It  must  then  be  something  of  the  same  description ;  of 
course  the  kuscoussoo  tray.  Not  a  tribe  moves  here 
that  the  women  do  not  carry  it  "  on  their  shoulders," 
"  in  their  clothes."  When  that  diet  is  used,  that  dish 
is  of  primary  necessity ;  and  on  that  account,  as  like- 
wise by  its  dimensions,  is  worthy  of  being  mentioned 
in  this  manner  on  the  occasion  of  a  sudden  flight. 

The  haik  and  the  kuscoussoo  are  here  united.  If 
you  heard  of  any  other  people  having  the  one,  you 
would  inquire  whether  they  had  not  also  the  other. 
Here  in  one  sentence  is  it  shown  that  the  Jews,  when 
they  entered  the  Wilderness,  had  both. 

*  "  Ephraim  is  as  a  cake  not  turned." — Hosea,  vii.  8.  Nii-huhr 
(Arabic^  vol.  ii.  p.  132)  draws  the  distinction.  In  the  towns,  he 
says,  they  use  ovens,  like  us ;  in  the  tents,  a  hot  plate  of  iron. 


424  ARGUMENT   TO   PROVE 

If  they  wore  the  haik  in  the  Wilderness,  they  had  it 
when  they  entered  the  Holy  Land  ;  for  as  they  did  not 
want  new  clothes,  so  would  they  not  change  old 
habits.*  The  people  they  drove  forth  were  the 
Brebers,  who  wear  it  to-day.  The  Jews  went  to  Egypt 
from  the  Holy  Land  ;  Abraham  therefore  wore  the 
haik ;  and  having  seen  him  in  that  dress,  I  can  ima- 
gine him  in  no  other. 

It  belongs  but  to  a  small  portion  of  the  human  family 
to  have  a  change  of  raiment  for  the  night ; — a  strik- 
ing peculiarity  of  this  dress  is  its  adaptation  to  both 
purposes.  It  is  the  costume  for  people  who  live  in 
tents,  and  who  cannot  carry  about  with  them  bed  and 
bedding ;  who  must  sleep  in  their  clothes,  and  who 
prepare  for  their  night's  repose  as  we  do  for  a  journey. 
Thus,  the  Jews  were  commanded,  if  any  had  taken  the 
raiment  of  another  in  pledge,  to  restore  it  "  By  that 
the  sun  goeth  down ;  for  that  is  his  covering  only — his 
raiment  for  his  skin,  wherein  he  shall  sleep."  Leaving 
free  circulation  of  air,  and  not  suffocating  the  body 
with  its  own  breath,  it  is  at  once  subservient  to  con- 
venience and  conducive  to  health. 

The  Hebrew  terms  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Greek 

*  Abulpheda  says,  "  that  he  (Abdallah,  the  calif,  the  son  of 
Sobeir)  wore  a  suit  of  clothes  for  forty  years,  without  pulling 
them  off  his  back,  but  doth  not  inform  us  what  they  were  made 
of. — History  of  the  Saracens,  vol.  ii.  p.  34-9.  This  he  believes 
to  be  incredible ;  of  course  it  is  so  with  teased  wool,  machinery- 
spun  thread,  and  tailored  clothes.  I  have  seen  a  home-made 
Highland  plaid,  in  excellent  condition,  after  nearly  twenty  years' 
constant  wear. 


THE   HAIK   WORN    IN   JUD^A.  425 

translation  of  them,  and  the  Greek  terms  of  the 
New,  are  quite  in  accordance  with  the  inferences  I 
have  drawn  from  the  scriptural  imagery  and  incidents. 
The  words,  "  garment,"  "  raiment,"  "  clothes,"  "  coat," 
are  used  at  hap -hazard,  and  we  can  attach  to  the 
costume  of  the  Bible  only  the  most  vague  and  con- 
fused ideas.  In  the  Hebrew,  however,  there  is  no 
such  disorder  :  none  of  the  names  now  used  are  indeed 
to  be  found  there,  but  those  used,  perfectly  suit  the 
Moorish  costume,  and  by  it  they  can  alone  be  under- 
stood. 

Morocco  presents  an  infinite  variety  of  pieces  of 
dress.  These  are  at  first  bewildering,*  but  may  be 
reduced  to  the  three  vestures  already  mentioned  — 
a  tunic,  a  pair  of  drawers,  and  a  haik ;  to  which  is 
added  as  accessory,  a  girdle,  a  cap,  and  a  pair  of  slip- 
pers. The  drawers,  shewal,  are  put  on  first.  Then  the 
sleeveless  tunic,  Inshwarwan,  reaching  over  the  hips ; 
over  this  the  richly  embossed  and  embroidered  belt, 
Indum,f  and  over  all  the  haik :  the  drawers  and  girdle 

*  The  sulam,  or  boumoos,  is  a  cloak  with  a  hood.  The  gelab 
(from  an  ancient  Persian  word  for  scales)  is  the  sulam  sewed  in 
front,  and  with  short  sleeves,  through  which  the  arms  can  be  put 
at  pleasure.  It  was  the  dress  of  the  Essenians  ;  is  the  monkish 
dress,  and  as  such  is  respected  by  the  Mussulmans.  It  varies 
according  to  the  district,  and  is  in  colours — narrow  stripes  of 
brown  and  yellow,  of  blue  and  white,  of  blue  and  black,  with 
here  and  there  lines  of  white.  In  the  winter  these  garments  are 
doubled  or  trebled,  and  the  haik  is  worn  over  all.  The  sulam  is 
the  dress  of  the  soldiers. 

t  This  is  sometimes  replaced  by  the  very  beautiful  Moorish 
sash,  kui" 


426  THE   HAIK   WORN   BY   CANAANITES. 

exactly  correspond  with  those  mentioned  in  the  Bible. 
For  all  other  garments,  two  words  only  are  employed, 
JWO,  hitonet,  whence  the  word  "cotton,"  and  also 
"  coat/'  this  is  the  xir®u  °f  the  Greeks —  the  sleeve- 
less tunic  of  the  Moors,  and  rfoo&,  shemlah ;  this 
is  the  ffxdnou  of  the  Greeks,  the  toga  of  the 
Romans,  and  the  haik  of  the  Moors.  It  was  woven 
among  the  Jews  by  men  and  women.  It  was  in  this 
that  the  Jewish  women  were  to  bind  their  kneading- 
troughs :  it  was  in  this  the  poor  man  slept,  and 
therefore  it  had  to  be  returned  when  taken  in  pledge 
"  by  that  the  sun  went  down."  The  kitonet  might 
be  retained.* 

The  haik  was  the  dress,  not  of  the  Jews  only,  but 
of  the  Canaanites,  including  among  these  the  Phoe- 
nicians ;  it  was  wholly  different  from  the  costume  of 
the  Egyptians,  and — as  we  have  now  the  opportunity 
of  minutely  knowing — from  that  of  the  great  Assyrian 
empire,  which  lay  to  the  east,  and  had  spread  over 
the  north  and  west  of  Asia.  Neither  does  it  appear 
to  belong  to  the  Arabs.  They  wear  it  indeed  now 
in  Barbary,  but  not  in  their  own  country,  and  it  is 
not  likely  that  the  change  was  there.  + 

*  Gen.  xxx vii.  3 ;  Judges  v.  30  ;  Sam.  xiii.  18  ;  Exod.  xxii. 
26,  7;  Deut.xxiv.  13;  Job  xxii.  6  \  Matt.  v.  40. 

f  In  one  of  the  poems  of  Shanfara,  the  Cid  of  the  Arabians, 
this  passage  occurs  :  —  "I  will  not  rest  till  I  have  raised  the 
dust  on  every  one  who  wears  kissa  or  bourd,  of  the  tribe  of 
Salaman."  This  is  interpreted  to  mean  that  he  would  lay  low 
the  men  of  note.  The  word  bourd  occurs  in  various  places. 
St.  Augustine,  speaking  of  a  presbyter,  vain  and  worldly-minded, 


THE  GREEK   ROBE.  427 

The  Greek  robe  was  white. *  It  was  put  on  as  a 
clothing,  and  was  at  the  same  time  a  covering  such 
as  might  be  used  to  sleep  in  at  night.f  It  was  not 
put  on  to  fit  as  a  dress.|  It  was  ample  in  its  folds, 
and  fell  to  the  feet.  §  It  covered  them  all  over.  But 
citation  of  authorities  is  superfluous.  Look  at  the 
statue  of  Demosthenes. 

But  the  Greeks  may  have  invented  it.  The  Greeks 
were  copiers  or  copies ;  they  improved  what  they 
received,  but  in  the  beginning  they  were  wild  and 

describes  him  as  "burda  vestitum"  In  Genesis  xxxi.  12,  the  word  is 
used  to  designate  the  variegated  lambs ;  and  in  the  Gaelic  is  trans- 
lated by  the  word  which  they  use  for  "  tartan."  It  would  thus 
appear  to  convey  rather  the  idea  of  colour  than  of  form.  Shan- 
fara  might  have  said,  if  speaking  of  the  Highlands,  "  Every  man 
who  wears  tartan,"  as  distinguished  from  the  shepherd  plaid. 
Kissa  may  have  a  similar  meaning — black  and  white.  It  is  no- 
where mentioned  as  a  dress.  Kisson,  the  name  of  the  "  ancient 
brook,"  is  supposed  to  be  connected  with  tciacra  of  the  Greeks,  or 
magpie,  (black  and  white).  Kissa  may  also  be  fringe;  for 
tzetzith  (fringe),  is  cabalistically  equal  to  Jcisee  (throne). 

*  Vestes  candidse.   Lutatius  Ann.  on  the  Thebaid. 
t  evdvvai  re  koi  C7nf3d\\e<r0cu. — Pollux.,  1.  vii.  c.  13. 

X  ovk  ivebvovro  aXk  enepovapro. 

§  7T€7rXoi   Trobrjpeis,    Eurip.  ;    iXKeanrerXovs  —  ravviniiKov — dp,<pl   5e 

7re7rXot  irmravrat..     Homir. 

•  Omnis  vestis  apud  Graecos  aut  eirl(3\rjiJia  aut  tvhv^a  est ; 
aut  amictui,  aut  indutui.  'Er^u/xara  sunt  qu»  ad  corpus  pre- 
pali  hserent,  atque  indutio  corpus  comprehendiens.  'E7rtj3\^/xara 
vero,  quae  et  TrepifiKijfiara  palliorum  omne  genus  quod  ca3teris 
vestimentis  circumjecta  et  superjecta  vago  et  libero  discursu  eas 
ambirent." — Salmasius  ad  Tertull.  de  Pall. 

Livy,  1.  8;  Flor.  1.  5;  Plin.  viii.  74.  ix.  63;  Diod.  v.; 
M-acrob.  Sat.  1.  6  ;  Testus  Verbo  Sardi,  Serv.  ad  Mu.  ii.  781  ; 
Isidori  Origines,  1.  xix.  c.  20. 


428      THE   GREEK    AND   PHCENICIAN  COSTUME. 

rude.  This  dress  belongs  to  early  simplicity,  and  to 
the  people  who  from  the  first  were  pre-eminent  in 
poetry. 

But,  taking  it  as  if  it  were  no  more  than  letters  or 
science,  then  if  we  find  it  both  in  Greece  and  Judaea, 
must  we  not  hold  it  to  be  derivative  in  that  country 
which  in  other  respects  has  been  the  pupil,  and  primi- 
tive in  that  country  which  in  other  respects  has  been 
the  mistress  %  Greece,  when  visited  by  the  adven- 
turers from  the  Holy  Land,  was  in  the  rudest  condition 
in  which  man  could  have  existed,  in  regard  to  every- 
thing except  the  bright  spirit  of  that  race,  the  first  light 
of  which  shone  in  aptitude  for  such  teaching.  Blood- 
shed was  not  the  vehicle  of  "  civilization,"  nor  lances 
the  heralds  of  a  faith.  The  fugitives  and  strangers 
who  taught  them  how  to  sow  and  to  weave,  they 
made,  while  living,  princes  and  chiefs,  and  worshipped 
when  dead,  as  heroes.  The  Phoenicians  introduced 
the  costume  of  Greece,  as  they  did  her  letters  and 
her  religion. 

The  resemblance  is  so  evident  between  the  toga 
and  haik,  that  the  only  question  is,  "  Was  it  original 
or  borrowed  % "  and  if  borrowed,  "  whence  did  it 
come  ! "  As  the  Greeks  stood  to  the  Phoenicians,  so 
did  the  Romans  to  the  Etruscans.  Critical  inquiries 
had  already  traced  that  people  to  Canaan :  recent 
discoveries  have  made  us  familiar  with  them.  Their 
tombs,  into  which  a  lady  has  conducted  us,  transport 
us  to  the  life  and  manners  of  the  Old  Testament.  A 
traveller  in  Barbary  might  take  them  for  the  ancient 


THE  ETRUSCAN  AND  ROMAN  COSTUME.   429 

sepulchres  of  this  country.     In  the  tombs  you  have 
over  and  over  again  the  haik. 

The  Etruscans  were  merely  a  colony :  they  recorded 
the  date  of  their  arrival,  and  kept  the  birth-day  of 
their  city.  It  has  been  a  question  recently  raised — 
whence  they  did  come.  Miiller  brings  them  from  the 
Alps  :  Mrs.  Hamilton  Grey,  from  Africa.*  The  toga 
must  have  been,  of  necessity,  in  the  country  from 
which  they  came,  for  they  did  not  come  naked.  Had 
the  ha'ik  been  then  as  now  restricted  to  Barbary,  I 
should  at  once  admit  the  African  derivation.  But  it 
is  traced  to  Lydia.f  A  cast  of  one  of  the  rock 
tombs  in  the  British  Museum,  exhibits  sculptured 
groups  the  size  of  life,  with  the  colours  still  remain- 
ing, which  shows  us,  as  in  a  mirror,  this  ancient 
Phrygian  people.  There  is  the  toga :  it  is  worn  over 
the  head  ;  men  and  women  wear  it  alike.  It  is  a 
group  of  Moors.  Two  boys  appear ;  the  head  is  shaved, 
with  the  exception  of  a  tuft  of  hair  on  the  crown  ! 
one  of  them  carrying  the  oil-bottle  and  strigil.  No 
other  ancient  people  shaved  the  head ;  we  only  hear 
of  it  among  the  people  of  Mauritania,  and  that  in 
respect  to  the  children.  The  Moors,  as  I  shall  show, 
had  the  bottle  from  the  earliest  times.  These  boys 
are  perfectly  naked,  while  all  the  others  are  dressed. 


*  Mrs.  Hamilton  Grey's  object  has  been  to  make  their  affilia- 
tion coincide  with  their  character;  but  identifying  the  inhabitants 
of  Lydia  with  those  of  the  Holy  Land,  their  derivation  from 
Lydia  presents  no  difficulty. 

t  Dennis,  Etruria,  Intr.  p.  xlii. 


430  THE  TOGA  AND   STRIGIL. 

To-day,  among  Easterns  and  Mussulmans,  and,  to  their 
infinite  disgust,  the  Moors  alone  preserve  the  ancient 
practice  of  bathing  naked. 

The  same  peculiarity  is  observed  in  the  Etruscan 
tombs  :  the  noble  youths  served  naked  at  their  enter- 
tainments. Thus,  with  the  strigil,  the  toga  would 
serve  to  suggest  Lydia  or  Lycia  as  the  source  of  the 
Etruscans,  if  Herodotus  had  not  recorded  the  tradi- 
tion, or  the  Etruscans  themselves  had  not  claimed  this 
ancestry.  This  tomb  enables  me  to  say  that  the  man- 
ners of  ancient  Phrygia  (I  use  as  a  general  name 
that  of  the  chief  of  the  states  of  Asia  Minor)  are,  at 
the  distance  of  three  thousand  years,  preserved  with 
a  fidelity  of  imitation,  or  an  identity  of  character,  in 
modern  Barbary,  such  as  at  the  interval  of  thirty 
years  can  scarcely  be  reckoned  on  in  Europe.  The 
toga  and  the  strigil  are  indeed  common  among  other 
people  ;  but  the  shaving  is  a  peculiarity,  the  value  of 
which  I  will  show  elsewhere ;  and  the  preservation, 
singly  in  Morocco,  of  the  whole  of  those  features 
which  this  tomb  presents,  must  go  far  to  identify 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  western  districts  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  or  the  Phrygians  and  the  Brebers, 
and  supports  my  derivation  of  the  name  Africa  from 
Phrygia,  which  I  imagine  was  given  to  the  latter 
country,  while  Breber  was  given  to  the  Phrygians  ; 
that  is,  that  the  names,  severally  preserved  in  Asia 
and  Africa,  were  then  common  to  the  two  countries 
and  people. 

Toga,  from  tego,  to  cover  :  ancient  as  is  the  epithet, 


REMOTE   ANTIQUITY    OF   THE   HA1K.  431 

it  could  not  be  original,  for  it  was  the  coat  of  peace, 
and  the j  commenced  as  banditti.  They  were  not  a 
nation,  but  a  city  of  aliens  and  refugees.  I  know 
not  what  the  Romans  could  call  their  own,  save  the 
master-spirit  of  selection  and  retention,  as  the 
Greeks  had  of  curiosity  (negisgyiu)  and  embellish- 
ments. 

We  have  traced  the  course  of  the  haik  along  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ;  found  it  clothing  Solo- 
mon, Hannibal,  Pericles,  Amalek,  and  Porsenna.  We 
have  carried  it  back  to  Hercules,  to  Abraham,  and  his 
fathers  before  him.  Here  is  a  monument  of  antiquity, 
to  which  the  Propylaea  of  Memnon  and  Palaces  of 
Ninus  are  modern  structures.  If  in  Pheleg's  time  we 
know  the  earth  was  divided,  when  were  the  costumes  \ 
When  the  division  took  place,  the  original  was  reserved 
to  the  elder  stock.  If  the  clothes  were  varied  with 
the  tongues,  then  again  must  this  one  have  kept  its 
Edom  dialect.  Through  Babel  over  the  Flood,  and 
dropping  there  all  its  associates  from  amongst  the 
devices  of  man,  or  the  works  of  his  hands,  it  strides 
backwards  alone  till  it  reaches  the  first  family's  soli- 
tary cot,  where  it  grew  between  Eve's  soft  fingers.  We 
find  it  still  the  chief  work  in  the  far  West  of  Eve's 
fair  daughters  ;  —  no  pauper  child  has  sighed  over  its 

*  The  pallium  and  the  toga  were  two  distinct  dresses,  but 
worn  together,  as  the  haik  and  the  sulam,  by  the  Moors,  the  one 
is  put  on  for  the  other,  or  the  one  with  the  other.  The 
paludamentum  was  a  small  haik,  worn  over  the  armour  and 
fastened  on  either  shoulder  with  a  brooch,  like  the  Scotch  plaid  : 
it  was  not  so  long  as  the  plaid,  and  hung  down. 


432  THE   MODERN   HAIK. 

fibres,  nor  have  the  spindles  begun  their  turning  to 
the  dismal  tinkling  of  the  factory  bell. 

Haiks  are  like  leaves  of  trees  —  you  never  see  two 
alike  : — as  sentences  are  interminable,  yet  the  syntax 
one,  so  have  haiks  their  grammar.  They  are  of  all 
textures  —  of  many  substances  —  plain,  striped,  yet 
uniform.  Silk  and  cotton  are  mixed  together  ;  both 
are  mingled  with  wool  ;  they  are  alternated  in  stripes. 
The  texture  varies  from  felt  to  sarcenet,  from  coarse 
blanketting  to  gauze  ;  there  is  the  massive  fold  defy- 
ing the  tempest — the  gossamer  wing  trembling  with  a 
breath  ;  colours  are  not  excluded,  gold  is  not  for- 
bidden. The  most  beautiful  specimen  of  workmanship 
and  taste  I  ever  saw,  was  a  white  haik  with  a  deep 
border  of  gold. 

The  haik  of  the  men  is  absolutely  and  undeviat- 
ingly  white.  Colours  are  reserved  for  children,  some- 
times also  for  women,  but  they  are  associated  always 
with  the  idea  of  indulgence  and  distinction.  Thus 
was  distinguished  the  daughter  of  David,  Tamar,  and 
this  was  what  aroused  the  jealousy  of  Benjamin's  bro- 
thers, and  when  the  last  of  the  Ptolemies  was  saluted 
king  of  the  Romans,  he  too  received  from  the  senate 
a  coat  of  many  colours. 

To  put  on  the  haik,  it  is  dropped  on  the  ground  ; 
one  corner  is  lifted  and  brought  over  the  left  shoulder, 
and  held  upon  the  breast  by  the  right  hand.  Then, 
by  stepping  backwards,  the  fold  passes  behind,  and  is 
brought  under  the  right  arm  round  in  front.  Another 
step  across  it,  and  it  is  behind  again  ;  then  taken  by 


MODE   OF  WEARING   IT.  433 

both  hands  outstretched,  it  is  brought  over  the  head, 
measured  so  as  to  be  left  hanging  low  enough  on  both 
sides  for  the  play  of  the  arms.  The  end  is  then 
thrown  over  the  left  shoulder  and  hangs  down  the 
back.  There  are  no  ties,  no  buttons,  no  separate 
parts  :  the  drapery  is  wrapped  round  with  the  sole 
fastening  of  its  own  folds.  Dispensing  with  so  many 
adjuncts,  it  supersedes  all  intermediaries.  It  is  made 
under  the  tent ;  there  is  no  tailor  wanted  ;  no  shop- 
man, no  dealer,  required  ;  this  is  the  link  between  a 
national  costume  and  a  people's  well-being.  The 
Spaniard's  cloak,  of  which  the  style  consists  in  the 
lap  thrown  over  the  left  shoulder,  is  a  mixture  of  the 
ha'ik  and  the  bornoos  :  to  this  day  the  Spaniard  looks 
upon  the  want  of  a  cloak  as  the  want  of  decent* 
covering  ; — to  be  without  a  cloak  is,  as  it  were,  to 
be  naked. 

Great  as  is  the  distance  between  the  attire  of 
Europe  and  that  of  the  East,  not  greater  is  the  dis- 
tance between  its  magnificence  and  the  dignity  of  that 
of  Numidia.  The  excellence  of  all  other  costumes  re- 
sides in  their  own  composition.  There  is  not  one  which 
does  not  strain  or  coerce  the  human  frame  into  its 
own  design.  The  excellence  of  this  is,  that  it  follows 
nature,  neither  designing  to  embellish  nor  endeavour- 
ing to  conceal  ;  it  reveals,  but  does  not  expose  ;  it 
covers,  but  does  not  disguise. 

The  antique  is,  however,  only  present  where  all  the 
subsidiary  garments  disappear,  and  the  hai'k  remains 
the  sole  clothing :  there  protrudes  an  arm  and  part 

VOL.   I.  I'  F 


434       ELEGANCE  AND  CONVENIENCE 

of  a  leg,  or  the  breast  is  heaved,  or  sometimes  the 
whole  outline  of  one  side  is  visible  ;  for  the  drapery- 
is  shifted  in  all  conceivable  ways,  and  according  to 
their  occupations ;  so  that  there  are  passing  before  you, 
and  called  up,  as  you  look  around,  all  the  celebrated 
statues  or  groups  of  antiquity.  One  of  these,  which 
has  remained  most  strongly  in  my  eye,  occurred  in 
a  boar  hunt.  While  watching  in  my  cover,  a  rustling 
called  my  attention  to  a  neighbouring  clump,  and 
there  stood  an  Arab  ;  his  gun  resting  on  an  edge  of 
rock,  his  haik  unwound  from  both  shoulders,  and  se- 
cured by  a  cord  of  plaited  palmetto  over  the  shoulder, 
as  is  often  seen  in  the  ancient  statues ;  the  drapery 
falling  behind  and  extending  over  the  ground  ;  the 
left  limb  advanced,  slightly  bent,  and  exposed  to  mid- 
thigh,  where  the  drapery  swept  to  the  ground.  Here 
was  a  statue,  and  yet  a  man  ;  not  a  model  set  up 
in  a  studio,  and  the  form  of  the  antique  adapted  to 
a  modern  musket ! 

We  admire  the  mechanism  of  a  joint,  and  then 
invent  clothing  which  shall  deprive  it  of  its  play,  and 
ourselves  of  its  use !  Here  nothing  interferes  with 
the  freedom  of  the  limbs,  or  disturbs  the  mechanism 
of  the  frame  and  its  action.  It  is  plastic  to  the 
hand,  to  relax  or  gird,  as  the  occasion  may  require. 
Each  figure  as  he  stands  before  you  is  a  statue,  and 
each  change  of  attitude,  a  study. 

When  we  raise  a  statue  to  a  hero,  we  eschew  our 
own  dress — the  dress  he  wore.  Our  fancy  weaves 
for  him  a  haik  :  we  borrow  the  majesty  of  its  large 


OF   THE   HAIK.  435 

folds,  although  we  have  never  beheld  the  splendid 
simplicity  of  its  dead  colour.  It  is  the  dress  for 
kings  and  patriarchs.* 

The  exposure  of  the  body  to  the  air  does  not  give 
the  impression  of  cold  in  the  way  that  those  whose 
clothing  has  a  similar  character  or  integuments  will 
suppose ;  whoever  has  worn  the  kilt  will  know  this. 
The  fact  is,  that  the  air  supplies  warmth,  and  when 
freely  circulating  round  the  body,  a  sort  of  respira- 
tion takes  place  through  the  skin,  which,  while  con- 
ducive to  strength  and  health,  supplies  that  light 
and  agreeable  sensation  which  belongs  to  a  costume, 
where  there  is  clothing  enough  to  secure  warmth,  and 
freedom  enough  to  admit  air.  Of  the  value  of  this 
freedom  we  have  a  striking  illustration  at  home,  and 
to  which  no  other  country  in  Europe  affords  a  parallel. 
The  butcher-boys  and  the  Blue-coat  school  boys  go 
about   without  that   covering   to,    or  protection   for, 

*  The  finery  of  a  modern  Moorish  grandee  is  thus  described 
by  Mr.  Hay  :  "  The  Basha  was  reclining  on  a  rich  carpet,  sup- 
ported by  round  velvet  cushions,  embroidered  in  gold.  He  was 
dressed  in  a  pale  green  caftan,  over  which  was  a  fine  muslin 
robe.  He  had  wide  trousers,  of  a  light-coloured  yellow  cloth. 
His  girdle  was  of  red  leather,  embroidered  in  silk,  with  a  silver 
clasp.  He  wore  on  his  head  the  common  Fez  cap,  circled  by  a 
white  turban,  and  over  all  fell  a  transparent  hai'k  of  the  finest 
texture.  In  his  hand  he  held  a  rosary.  His  manners  were 
graceful  and  gentlemanly,  and  a  pleasant  smile  gave  an  agreeable 
expression  to  his  features.  The  father  of  this  potentate  was 
Basha  over  half  the  empire,  and  proved  a  good  friend  to  the 
English  during  the  war  on  the  Peninsula,  when  we  depended 
much  on  West  Barbary  for  the  supply  of  our  armies,  and  also  of 
our  fleets  in  the  neighbouring  seas." — Western  Barbary,  p.  110. 

f  f  2 


436  PRAISE    OF  THE    HAIK. 

the  head,  which  for  all  other  degrees,  and  in  all 
other  countries,  is  deemed  essential  to  health  and 
comfort.  Do  they  suffer  from  being  bare-headed  \ 
No.  What  then  is  the  value  of  our  prophylactics, 
and  what  do  we  know  about  the  management  of 
ourselves  \  Nay,  children  suffering  from  all  sorts 
of  diseases  and  weakness  are  cured,  and  they  cease 
to  complain  when  their  heads  cease  to  be  covered. 
As  to  comfort,  they  all  prefer  it,  as  every  one  does 
prefer  the  simplest  things,  when,  by  some  accident, 
the  chain  is  broken  of  that  servitude  of  manners 
which  we  have  forged  for  ourselves. 

Now  that  we  have  our  portraits  taken  by  the  sun's 
rays,  and  numberless  scientific  men  are  tracing  the 
effects  of  light  on  the  functions  of  animals  and  the 
growth  of  plants,  separating  the  parts  of  rays,  and 
finding  in  them  agencies  of  so  many,  so  powerful, 
and  such  distinct  kinds — it  may  not  be  absurd  to 
speak  of  the  merit  of  a  costume  that  admits  to  the 
body  light,  as  well  as  air.  We  are  always  in  the  dark. 
On  light  and  heat  a  series  of  experiments  have  been 
reported  to  scientific  societies  by  fifty  philosophers  ; 
but  none  of  them  has  ever  thought  of  letting  his  own 
toes  see  the  sun.  Modern  science  always  overpowers 
me  with  melancholy — so  much  light  in  the  focus,  and 
such  darkness  in  the  hemisphere  !  Contrast  the  majes- 
tic ignorance  of  primeval  times ;  then,  grand  with 
so  much  ease  ;  now,  with  so  much  toiling,  mean. 

Those  members  which  have  to  support  the  weight 
of  the  rest,   deserve    peculiar  care,  and    might  even 


OUR  TREATMENT   OF   FEET.  437 

claim  exclusive  favour,  but  they  are  more  wretched 
than  the  rest.  Our  poor  feet  are  doomed  to  a  dark 
dungeon,  from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb.  Never  are 
they  suffered  to  look  upon  the  sun,  never  allowed 
for  a  moment  to  touch  the  earth  j  once  a  day,  per- 
haps for  a  few  moments,  they  get  a  glimpse  of  the 
subdued  light  of  a  closed  chamber,  or  perceive  round 
corners  of  a  table,  the  artificial  glare  of  a  wax  taper  ; 
that  respite  over,  they  are  straight  again,  rammed 
down  into  their  cases.  After  this,  they  aire  vilified  ; 
their  very  name  is  mentioned  with  repugnance,  and 
their  sight  associated  with  indecency.  No  revolution 
is  to  set  them  free,  no  change  of  fashion  to  break  their 
chains  :  hopeless  drudgery,  unrequited  toil,  superci- 
lious scorn  are  their  fate,  and  the  care  which  is  be- 
stowed upon  them  is  to  pervert  their  nature,  to 
disfigure  and  deform  them,  and  make  them  even  to 
themselves  a  shame.  The  man  is  no  gainer,  who 
treats  his  feet  with  such  injustice ;  and  the  costume 
no  slight  benefit  which  prevents  him  from  doing  so. 

If  the  standard  of  taste  sink,  we  expect  from  the 
gifted  spirit  an  effort  to  raise  it.  Alas !  it  is  they 
who  weigh  upon  and  degrade  it.  The  workshop  of 
the  artist : — does  one  recall  the  figures  which  adorn 
a  Moorish  encampment. 

But  the  heaping  up  of  drapery,  and  the  loading 
of  gold  *■  for  effect,"  which  the  royal  academician 
steps  back  to  admire,  leaves  the  end  of  costume  out 
of  view.  That  end  must  be  attained  in  all  perfec- 
tion.    It    must  be  a  clothing  for  the  figure,  as  well 


438  REMARKS   ON 

as  a  drapery  for  the  eye  ;  and  of  this  no  artist — and 
indeed  no  master— has  had  the  thought.  As  to 
colour,  it  is  the  same,  with  the  exception  of  the  ap- 
propriation of  blue  and  white  in  the  Spanish  school 
to  the  vesture  of  the  Virgin.  There  is  no  more  dis- 
crimination exhibited  in  a  gallery  of  master-pieces, 
than  in  a  tailor's  or  a  milliner's  shop,  and,  in  fact, 
the  cant  of  the  virtuoso  has  passed  to  the  showman  in 
the  shop. 

How  different  the  Greeks!  Their  draped  statues 
still  exist :  their  paintings  have  disappeared,  but  a 
Roman  critic  bewailing  the  same  confusion,  points  out 
to  his  compatriots,  the  primitive""  colours  of  the  mas- 
ter-pieces of  Apelles,  Protogenes,  Zeuxis,  and  Theron. 

But  the  sensitiveness  of  the  poet  may  have  sup- 
plied the  blank  left  by  the  artist,  or  virtuoso.  I  take 
one  as  a  specimen.  "  The  Greek,"  says  Schiller,  "  is 
to  the  greatest  degree  accurate,  true,  and  circumstan- 
tial in  his  descriptions  ;  but  he  shows  no  more  heart- 
felt interest  in  the  beauties  of  Nature,  than  in  the 
account  of  a  dress,  a  shield,  or  a  preparation  for 
war."  No  more!  If  he  felt  for  the  beauties  of 
nature,  as  he  did  for  his  costume,  his  armour,  and 
the  great  event  of  war,  how  immeasurably  would 
he  have  left  behind    the   modern  German's  whining 

*  The  rule  laid  down  by  Pliny  may  be  observed  in  the  two 
groups  in  the  Alhambra.  Selection  of  colour,  and  representation 
of  colour  are  different  things,  which  if  Fuseli  had  perceived,  he 
would  not  have  given  himself  the  trouble  to  show  that  Pliny 
did  not  understand  what  he  spoke  about. 


COSTUME.  439 

sentimentalism  about  rainbows  and  groundsel.  To 
this  the  German  and  the  modern  are  reduced,  because 
war  has  become  a  secret  and  a  trade ;  our  weapons 
a  matter  of  commissariat  and  costume— a  covering 
fit  for  apes. 


440  THE  TENT   AT  NIGHT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


A    BOAR-HUNT. 


We  thought  we  might  now  dispense  with  the  pre- 
cautions to  secure  our  property  before  going  to  rest,  to 
which  we  had  been  hitherto  constrained  ;  but  were  sur- 
prised, while  making  our  beds,  at  the  sheik's  entering 
with  a  heavy  chain  to  secure  our  fowling-pieces  round 
the  tent-pole.  Intending  to  convey  a  compliment, 
we  resisted  ;  but  he  got  angry.  He  did  not  understand 
suspicion  of  his  Turks,  and  understood  nothing  else  of 
any  other  people.  The  chain  for  picketing  our  horses 
would  have  served  for  the  anchor  of  a  boat  of  ten 
tons.  Every  horse  is  secured  with  iron  :  there  is  either 
a  shackle  to  two  feet  or  a  chain  to  one  leg ;  the 
end  under  the  master's  pillow,  although  in  the  inside 
of  a  circle,  which  no  one  can  enter  without  passing 
through  a  tent  or  between  two,  in  each  of  which 
there  is  at  least  one  dog.  One  lives  thus  in  constant 
extremes.  The  same  person  is  at  one  moment  the  ob- 
ject of  affection  and  confidence,  at  another  of  fear  and 
suspicion.  The  Arab  lives  in  the  full  glare  of  the 
light  of  the  passions ;  as  he  is  a  statue  in  his  figure, 
so  is  he  an  epic  in  his  mind.     It  is  not  only  not  base 


THE   ARAB   SALUTATION.  441 

to  rob,  but,  as  one  of  them  expressed  it,  "  to  carry  off 
a  horse  is  a  sign  of  being  a  man  ;"  yet  this  man  was 
trusty  as  a  sword,  and  faithful  as  a  dog.  So  the 
basis  of  all  law  resides  in  contract  —  not  the  "  con- 
tract social,"  of  Jean  Jacques,  but  the  real  word  of 
man,  surely  known  and  truly  pledged — in  a  word,  the 
third  commandment. 

This  contract  is  contained  in  the  salutation.  The 
"salem  aliHum"  is  a  preliminary  and  a  question.  "Is 
there  peace  ?" — on  the  affirmative,  the  salutation  fol- 
lows. *     The   Turk   has  converted  into  a  distinction 

*  "  Their  manner  of  saluting  the  stranger  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  Jewish  patriarchs,  and  of  the  people  amongst  whom  they 
lived,  as  described  in  the  Old  Testament.  When  a  stranger 
approaches  the  tent  of  an  Arab,  he  begins  by  examining  to  which 
side  it  is  turned,  then  bringing  himself  opposite  the  entrance,  he 
approaches  with  slow  steps,  until  he  has  come  within  a  hundred 
passes ;  then  he  stops,  with  his  arm  in  his  hand  ready  for 
defence.  He  turns  his  back  to  the  tent,  and  waits  till  he  is  seen, 
and  some  one  approaches  him ;  he  then  prostrates  himself  twice 
to  the  earth,  and  adores.  On  this  a  man  of  the  tent  takes  water 
in  a  wooden  vase,  and  advances  towards  him  ;  —  it  is  generally 
the  chief  of  the  family  who  does  so,  or  his  eldest  son  ;  and  if 
there  are  no  men,  it  is  one  of  the  women  advances  with  the  vase 
or  something  else,  to  eat  or  drink,  if  they  have  it ;  if  not,  they 
bring  a  skin  or  a  piece  of  wove  stuff,  to  accommodate  the 
stranger.  When  they  have  come  within  a  few  paces  of  him  they 
say,  '  Is  it  peace  ?"  and  he  answers,  l  It  is  peace  ;'  and  then  they 
say  each  to  the  other,  '  May  peace  be  with  you  and  your  family, 
and  all  that  you  possess.'  Then  touching  each  with  his  right 
hand  the  hand  of  the  other,  they  carry  it  to  their  lips,  which  is 
as  much  as  if  they  kissed  each  other's  hand.  I  presume  it  is 
from  this  custom  that  has  come  the  complimenting  use  amongst 
the  Spaniards,  who  on  meeting  say,  '  I  kiss  your  hand ;'  and  if 
to  a  lady,  '  I  kiss  your  feet.' " — Riley. 


442  MUSSULMAN   SALUTATIONS. 

between  creeds  that  which  was  the  parley  on  the 
approach  of  two  disciplined  bodies. 

Our  word  greeting  comes  from  the  mutual  hailing 
of  the  sea-kings'  ships.  "  I  greet  with  grith  f  we 
translate  "I  greet  with  peace."  Greet  has  still  pre- 
served in  the  North  its  original  meaning — of  crying 
or  hailing. 

Two  Greek  lines  have  preserved  to  us  a  distinction 
between  the  forms  of  the  Arabs  and  the  Phoenicians, 
which  throw  light  on  their  respective  character.  The 
latter  had  dropt  the  "  Salam"  as  not  requisite  for  their 
avocations  and  mode  of  life — 

'AAA'  el  fxev  ^vpos  ecral  2aAu/z,  «  §'  odv  crvye  $olvt£ 
AvBoves,  et  &  "EWrjv  ^atpe,  rb  §'  avrb  (ppa.o~ov.* 

Nothing  is  more  dignified  than  the  dumb  show  of  a 
Mussulman  in  salutation.  The  right  arm  is  raised  and 
the  open  hand  is  laid  upon  the  breast.  Such  a  habit 
would  make  any  people  graceful  and  courtly.  This  is 
the  common  form  ;  the  more  refined  is  called  "  Geme- 
nas,vf  and  consists  in  carrying  the  hand  to  the  mouth, 
touching  the  lips  with  the  points  of  the  fingers  and 
then  the  forehead  with  a  simultaneous  inclination  of 
the  head  and  body — the  meaning  is  vulgarly   inter- 

*  Meleag.  Anthol.  1.  3,  c.  25. 

t  There  may  be  some  connexion  with  the  jemmas  of  the 
Greeks,  as  designating  the  salutation  with  which  such  holy 
places  were  entered.  To  '  adore'  is  to  carry  the  hand  to  the 
lips.  The  Indians  adore  the  sun  by  standing  up,  not  as  we  do 
by  kissing  the  hand. — Pliny.  The  modern  Greek  uses  npoaKvvu) 
for  the  Turkish  jemmas.  In  any  modern  language  a  periphrase 
would  be  requisite. 


GEOLOGICAL  SPECIMEN   OF  THE  SHIEK.       443 

preted,  "  I  kiss  your  words  and  treasure  them  up  in 
my  brain."  This  is  the  salute  to  a  superior.  To  an 
inferior,  the  hand  is  carried  to  the  lips  and  then  to 
the  breast,  or  it  is  raised  to  the  breast  only — the 
shades  are  infinite. 

The  visit  ended  by  a  discussion  upon  government. 
It  was  always  the  same  question — does  the  sultan  of 
the  Christians  seize  the  property  of  a  man  because  he 
is  rich  ?  When  answered  in  the  negative,  they  smiled 
and  remained  satisfied  (because  they  themselves  know 
no  other  evil)  that  we  enjoy  the  most  perfect  felicity. 
Then,  after  a  pause  the  inquiry  will  come — if  there 
be  any  chance  of  the  English  occupying  their  country  1 
Such  things  are  apt  to  lead  Europeans  into  the  mis- 
take of  fancying  such  a  country  easily  conquered. 

In  the  morning  we  started  in  a  southerly  direction 
to  visit  a  spot  from  which  the  sheik  had  formerly 
brought  a  remarkable  specimen.  We  found  the  block 
from  which  he  had  taken  it  lying  in  a  field.  1  was 
giving  directions  to  dig  around  that  I  might  ascertain 
whether  it  was  in  situ ;  when  they,  fancying  I  desired  to 
move  it,  despatched  a  messenger  for  a  couple  of  camels. 
While  I  was  at  work,  a  sulam  fell  over  me,  and  on 
clearing  myself  and  looking  up,  I  saw  a  stranger  on 
horseback,  and  found  myself  bound  to  refuse  no  favour 
he  should  ask.  Elisha  and  Elijah  immediately  came 
before  me.  Elisha,  when  the  mantle  is  thrown  on  him, 
asks  no  questions,  but  leaves  his  twelve  pair  of  oxen. 
The  stranger  said,  "  Cure  me."  I  answered,  "  God 
alone  can  cure."     He  then  took  his  sulam,  and,  throw- 


444  GEOLOGICAL 

ing  it  over  my  shoulders,  brought  the  collar  part  of  it 
close  round  my  neck,  and  kissed  my  head.  If  a  crimi- 
nal can  throw  a  sulam  on  the  Sultan,  or  on  the  ground 
before  him,  he  has  taken  sanctuary  and  cannot  be  put 
to  death. 

Soon  afterwards  I  observed  some  singular  black 
rocks,  which  proved  to  be  masses  of  iron  :  close  by 
there  was  a  hard  limestone  containing  very  fine  and 
beautiful  madrepores.  Two  thick  layers  of  the  metal 
stood  up  in  fragments  some  feet  above  the  ground. 
We  traced  it  in  one  direction  for  about  three  miles, 
when  it  was  again  covered  by  the  horizontal  sand-stone. 
They  told  us  that  in  the  other  direction  the  same 
black  stone  was  found  in  great  quantities ;  in  fact, 
in  the  cultivated  fields  the  stones  were  iron,  realizing 
to  the  letter  the  description  of  the  Promised  Land— a 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  where  the  stones 
are  iron,  and  from  the  hills  of  which  copper  *  is  melted. 
We  found  a  good  deal  of  slag,  but  the  working  had 
been  merely  superficial.  I  afterwards  obtained  a 
specimen  of  lead  from  the  same  neighbourhood. 

We  returned  to  our  home  in  another  place.  We 
had  left  the  camp  crowning  a  knoll.  We  found  it 
in  the  evening  settled  on  a  plain.  Two  other  douars 
along  our  route  had  also  moved,  and  in  the  same 
direction,  and  we  passed  one  of  the  migrating  bodies. 
There  were  neither  men  nor  horses,  nor  any  cattle 
used  in  tillage.  These  were,  as  usual,  employed  in 
the  fields.     This  business  belonged  to  the  women  and 

*  In  Sus  they  run  copper  by  lighting  fires. 


RESEARCHES.  445 

children.  The  tents  and  utensils  were  laden  on  the 
spare  cows  and  camels.  Every  creature  that  could 
carry,  from  the  camel  to  the  goat,  was  put  in  requi- 
sition, and  you  might  see,  as  when  flying  before 
Pharaoh,  "  their  kneading  troughs  in  their  clothes 
upon  their  backs."  The  men  returned  from  their 
work  in  the  field,  without  the  loss  of  an  hour,  to 
their  new  abode.  By  these  removals  the  country  for 
five  miles  was  like  a  fair.  The  pasturing  flocks,  too, 
were  falling  in  ;  and  at  our  new  pitching  ground 
we  had  five  douars  within  two  miles.  We  counted 
them,  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  vessels  that  had 
taken  shelter  in  the  same  creek  with  ourselves. 

We  diversified  our  geological  pursuits  by  dragging 
a  valley  for  boars,  but  were  unsuccessful  :  they  were, 
however,  round  us  in  thousands ;  their  digging  and 
rooting  equalled  the  ploughing  of  the  natives.  We 
could  not  take  ten  steps  in  any  direction  without 
walking  on  the  earth  they  had  recently  turned  up, 
and  their  industry  was  prosecuted  to  within  a  hundred 
paces  of  the  douar.  It  was  with  some  difficulty  that 
we  regained  our  geological  specimens,  for  the  Arabs 
had  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  science,  which  con- 
sists in  making  collections.  The  expedition  reminded 
me  of  Dr.  Buckland's  equestrian  lecture  at  Oxford. 
Hitherto  a  scrutinizing  look  at  a  stone  had  been 
supposed  to  endanger  a  man's  head. 

I  feel  some  compunction  in  obliterating  what  to 
my  fellow-travellers  are  absurd  prejudices ;  to  me 
they  are   valuable  records,  like  the  disregarded  frag- 


446  MOORISH   FEELING   AS   TO  MINES. 

ments  of  some  antediluvian  creature,  by  which  at  the 
opposite  sides  of  the  globe  the  parts  of  a  common 
stratum  may  be  identified.  This  same  prejudice 
guarded  against  Phoenician  and  Carthaginian  the 
mineral  wealth  of  Mauritania,  while  they  were  ra- 
vaging that  of  Spain.  In  the  settlement  of  Mauri- 
tania made  by  Augustus,  which  was  followed  by  four 
centuries  of  repose  and  prosperity,  no  traces  of  its 
mineral  wealth  appear,  whilst  the  Roman  world  was 
supplied  periodically  with  wheat  from  its  fields.  An 
ancient  law  forbade  the  working  of  gold  and  silver 
mines  within  the  confines  of  Italy.  There  was  reason 
in  this.  The  facilities  we  have  devised  for  centrating 
wealth  have  rendered  of  easy  accomplishment  things 
which  men,  had  they  been  wise,  would  have  surrounded 
with  every  obstruction.  Until  the  funding  system  com- 
menced, wars  of  aggression  could  be  carried  on  only 
by  a  government  which  possessed  a  store  of  gold."*  It 
was  not,  therefore,  merely  the  depopulation  of  a  dis- 
trict which  was  associated  with  the  working  of  mines, 
but  the  loss  of  liberty ;  for  the  conqueror  abroad 
became  inevitably  the  tyrant  at  home. 

For  the  purposes  of  commerce  Africa  required  no 


# 


"  Blest  paper  credit !  last  and  best  supply  ! 
That  lends  corruption  lighter  wings  to  fly ! 
Gold,  imp'd  by  thee,  can  compass  hardest  things, 
Can  pocket  states,  can  fetch  and  carry  kings. 
A  single  leaf  shall  waft  an  army  o'er, 
Or  carry  statesmen  to  some  distant  shore ; 
A  leaf  like  — 's  scatter  to  and  fro 
Our  fates  and  fortunes  as  the  wind  shall  blow." — Pope. 


ARAB   HOSPITALITY.  447 

gold.  Throughout  that  region  there  is  to  be  found 
a  process  for  adjusting  exchange,  at  once  the  most 
simple  and  the  most  perfect ;  such  as  the  plainest  man 
would  have  first  hit  upon,  such  as  the  profoundest 
mathematician  would  have  at  last  devised.  It  is 
a  "  standard  of  value."  I  mean  not  that  perversion 
to  which  we  give  the  name,  but  an  ideal  standard  in 
which  all  objects  are  alike  rated,  be  they  money,  be 
they  merchandise. 

In  my  anxiety  to  entertain  my  geological  compa- 
nions, I  was  nearly  involving  the  community  in  war. 
I  had  given  directions  for  sheep  to  be  bought  for  the 
party  for  supper.  They  came  to  me  presently  to  say 
that  the  sheep  were  ready,  but  that  the  people  would 
take  no  money.  I  then  sent  a  Jew  servant  of  Mr. 
Seraya,  to  one  of  the  other  douars  to  buy  them.  Soon 
after  there  was  a  great  commotion.  Seeing  him  re- 
turn with  the  sheep,  and  suspecting  the  intention, 
several  of  our  tribe  had  run  for  their  muskets,  and 
sallied  forth  to  drive  the  other  people  back  who  pre- 
sumed to  sell  food  to  their  guests. 

A  boar- hunt  was  settled  for  next  morning.  The 
plough  was  abandoned,  and  every  man  mustered  with 
his  gun.  Preceded  by  a  tamborine,  we  marched  along 
the  front  of  the  other  douars,  and  each  poured  forth 
its  troop,  amidst  great  and  fierce  excitement.  There 
was  yelling,  running,  and  firing.  My  course  was  im- 
peded by  the  sick  and  maimed  who  were  brought  and 
laid  down  before  me.  I  could  do  nothing  for  them; 
and  they  were  only  jostled  by  the  crowd.     After  we 


448  THE   BOAR   HUNT   AND 

had  cleared  the  douars,  we  were  summoned  to  the  top 
of  a  tumulus.  A  circle  was  cleared,  and  a  man  of 
another  tribe  came  forward  ;  they  all  held  up  their 
hands  in  the  attitude  in  which  the  Tyrian  Hercules 
is  represented,  and  following  the  chief  or  priest,  pro- 
nounced these  words,  "In  the  name  of  God,  we,  this 
day,  are  brothers  ;  if  any  man's  hand  be  on  his  neigh- 
bour, may  the  hand  of  the  Most  Merciful  be  on  him  ; 
if  no  man  has  evil  thoughts,  may  our  work  be  pros- 
pered." The  beaters,  of  whom  there  were  about  a 
hundred  boys  and  old  men,  were  told  off,  and  we  set 
forward,  with  nearly  four  hundred  guns,  dropping  par- 
ties to  crown  the  winding  heights.  The  station  as- 
signed to  us  was  the  brow  of  a  hill !  I  started  without 
parley  for  the  gorge  below,  but  as  soon  as  the  soldiers 
divined  my  intention,  they  (having  come,  mounted) 
gave  me  chase  as  if  I  had  been  an  escaped  felon. 
There  was  no  want  of  boars  ;  we  saw  them  hopping 
out  of  our  way,  and  they  all,  of  course,  got  off.  Not 
often  has  a  pig  kept  so  much  good  company  waiting 
without  disappointing  any  one  of  his  supper ;  for  if  we 
had  killed  a  score  not  one  of  the  party  would  have 
cooked  a  morsel. 

Mr.  Seraya  having  early  withdrawn,  I  remained 
amongst  this  concourse  the  whole  day  without  the 
means  of  understanding  or  uttering  a  single  word,  and 
yet,  though  I  was  not  aware  of  it  at  the  time,  this 
was  the  wildest  people  in  the  whole  of  Morocco. 
There  was  nothing  here  of  the  fanaticism  or  hatred 
of  Europeans  which  characterizes  those  of  the  north. 


ITS   CONCLUSION.  449 

They  did  not  so  much  as  know  the  common  terms  of 
abuse  which  in  Mussulman  countries  are  applied  to 
Christians.  They  gave  us  and  received  from  us  the 
salutation  of  peace.  As  we  were  returning,  they  were 
all  picking  up  flat  stones  about  the  size  of  a  man's 
hand,  and  one  after  the  other  came  to  me  with  his 
stone.  I  had  no  means  of  comprehending  what  they 
said,  and  imagined  that  this  was  an  effect  of  the  expe- 
dition of  the  day  before,  and  that  they  had  all  been 
bitten  by  the  geological  mania.  We  presently  assem- 
bled in  a  little  dell,  and  they  went  and  threw  their 
stones  on  the  opposite  side.  One  of  these  was  set  up 
on  an  old  stump,  and  I  saw  what  we  were  to  be  about. 
We  sat  down  in  a  semicircle,  in  front  of  which  each 
in  succession,  taking  off  his  shoes,  advanced,  and  after 
saluting  the  company,  fired,  and  then  again  saluted 
and  withdrew.  There  was  no  avoiding  the  trial. 
They  set  for  us  the  very  smallest  stones,  and  we  fired 
without  advancing  from  our  places.  M.  L.  and  myself 
hit  the  mark  in  succession,  and  were  vociferously 
commended,  but  we  declined  a  second  trial.  Their 
muskets  might  be  called  rampart  pieces.  To  cock 
one  of  their  guns  (there  is  no  half-cock)  is  like  arming 
an  arbalette,  or  stringing  a  bow.  In  taking  aim,  they 
stretch  out  the  left  arm  as  far  as  they  can  reach,  and 
hold  out  the  right  elbow  higher  than  the  ear,  and  in 
this  awkward  attitude  are  a  long  time  levelling. 

After  a  good  deal  of  powder  had  been  expended,  a 
great  many  stones  shattered,  and  a  great  many  jokes 
cracked  on   those  who  missed  them,  we  wended  our 

VOL.   I.  G  G 


450  ARAB   SINGING 

way  back  to  the  douar  from  which,  with  all  the 
marching,  running,  scaling  of  steep  sides,  and  plunging 
into  deep  dells,  we  had  not  been  five  miles  distant 
during  the  whole  day. 

On  our  return  a  dance  was  proposed,  and  carried  by 
acclamation.  An  old  woman  set  about  pulling  up  the 
lilies,  and  clearing  from  other  incumbrances,  a  piece 
of  sward  outside  the  circle.  Two  girls  rushed  up 
with  kuscoussoo  sieves  to  beat  as  tambourines  ; — these 
are  sheep's  skin,  pierced  with  holes,  and  called  sonag.* 
A  woman  seizing  one  of  the  cooking  jars  drew  off 
her  slipper,  and  striking  the  open  mouth  with  it,  we 
had  at  once  a  tum-tum.  The  girls  and  women  danced 
to  the  sieves  and  the  jar,  but  beating  time,  as  well  as 
all  the  company,  with  their  hands  and  uttering  a 
cadenced  cry.  The  shuffling  of  feet  was  most  extra- 
ordinary, all  pressing  into  the  centre  round  the  chief 
performer,  who  sang  and  rattled  a  tambourine.  The 
dance  was  interrupted  whilst  he  sang,  and  then  they 
kept  marking  time  by  their  hands  meeting  alternately 
at  the  height  of  the  face  and  breast.  The  whole  party 
joined  in  beating  time   and    singing   the   choruses.f 

*  Pennant  saw  in  the  island  of  Rum  (1769)  the  Quern  or 
Bra  in  use,  and  "  instead  of  a  hair  sieve  to  sift  the  meal,  they 
have  an  ingenious  substitute,  a  sheep's  skin  stretched  on  a  hoop, 
and  bored  with  small  holes,  made  with  a  hot  iron."  "  Singing 
at  the  quetn"  was  then  out  of  date,  the  lairds  compelling  them 
to  grind  at  his  mill,  and  the  miller  being  empowered  to  break ' 
the  querns  wherever  he  found  them. 

t  "  As  soon  as  the  evening  breeze  begins  to  blow,  the  song 
resounds  throughout  all  the  land.     It  cheers  the  despondency  of 


AND   DANCING.  451 

The  singer  commenced  each  stanza  with  that  peculiar 
and  indescribable,  though  never-to-be-forgotten,  bird- 
like jerk  of  the  head,  with  which  the  Spanish  dancers 
throw  off.  Here  in  the  germ  was  all  the  Spanish  Casta- 
net dance,  song,  &c. 

It  being  proposed  to  stop,  the  girls  exclaimed  "  Not 
/till  the  cows  come  home."  So  off  they  went  again 
until  the  sun  dipped  under  the  horizon.  The  crowd 
dispersed  in  an  instant,  not,  however,  before  we  had 
thrown  some  coins  into  the  tambourine.  The  minstrel 
gallantly  distributed  them  to  the  girls  who  had  dis- 
tinguished themselves.  Some  one  brought  him  a 
skirt  full  of  raisins  and  walnuts,  which  were  heaped 
into  his  sieve.  This  he  distributed  amongst  the 
younger  portion  of  the  audience.     There  was  then  a 

the  wanderer  through  the  desert;  it  enlivens  the  social  meeting; 
it  inspires  the  dance,  and  even  the  lamentations  of  the  mourner 
are  poured  forth  in  measured  accents.  Their  poetry  does  not 
consist  in  studied  and  regular  pieces,  such  as,  after  previous 
study,  are  recited  in  our  schools  and  theatres  :  they  are  extem- 
porary and  spontaneous  effusions,  in  which  the  speaker  gives 
utterance  to  his  hopes  and  fears,  his  joys  and  sorrows.  Specimens 
are  wanting  of  the  African  verse ;  yet,  considering  that  its 
effusions  are  numerous,  inspired  by  Nature,  and  animated  by 
national  enthusiasm,  they  seem  not  unlikely  to  reward  the  care 
of  the  collector.  The  few  examples  actually  given  favour  this 
conclusion.  How  small  a  number  among  our  peasantry  could 
have  produced  the  pathetic  and  affecting  lamentation,  which  was 
uttered  in  the  little  Bambarra  cottage  over  the  distresses  of 
Park !  These  effusions,  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  con- 
tain all  that  exists  among  them  of  traditional  history.  From 
the  songs  of  the  Jellemen  of  Soolimani,  Major  Laing  was  enabled 
to  compile  the  annals  of  this  small  kingdom  for  more  than  a 
century." — Discovery  and  A  dventure  in  Africa,  p.  350. 


452  TENT   HABITS. 

good  deal  of  kissing  of  his  head  and  hands,  and  so  we 
dispersed.  I  afterwards  learnt  that  the  castanet  is  in 
use  amongst  the  tribes  of  the  interior.*"  They  have 
also  a  castanet  of  metal,  and  double.  The  striking  of 
the  hands  is  not,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  East,  the 
hollow  of  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  upon  the  palm  of 
the  left  ;  it  is  the  two  palms  that  are  brought  to  make 
a  sharp  clack.  They  produce  a  variety  of  sounds  and 
exhibit  a  variety  of  evolutions. 

Living  in  a  circle  engenders  peculiar  habits.  When 
a  man  is  wanted,  (as  was  often  the  case  in  arranging 
hunting  parties,)  his  name  is  called  quietly,  as  you 
sit  within  your  canvass  walls,  thus  :  "  Eh  !  Hamed  !  y 
If  there  is  no  answer,  the  call  is  repeated  ;  then  some 
one  in  the  next  tent  takes  it  up,  and  right  and  left  you 
hear  "  Eh  !  Hamed,"  and  round  it  goes  till  the  man  is 
found.  If  you  want  to  buy  anything,  you  go  into 
the  middle  of  the  circle,  and  call  out,  "  Who  has  milk 
to  sell ! — let  him  come."    "  Who  has  eggs  \p  f 

In  the  centre  of  each  douar,  there  is  a  tent  set  apart 
as  a  mosque,  with  a  fire  burning  before  it,  and  there 
we  were  without  difficulty  admitted  while  our  tent  was 
getting  ready.  It  is  also  used  as  a  school  as — late  and 
early — we  could  testify.  If  Arabs  are  not  taught  foreign 
tongues,  they  do  learn  to  use  their  own.  Each  douar 
besides  its  sheik  has  its  Cadi  and  priest  or  schoolmaster. 

*  Castanets. — Crotola  are  found  in  Egyptian  tombs. — Dennis, 
vol.  ii.  p.  4:5. 

t  Compare  this  with  Rev.  xxii.  17  :  "  And  let  him  thatheareth 
say,  Come,"  &c. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  AN  ARAB   TENT.  453 

The  tents  of  the  persons  of  distinction  are  black,  the 
others  brown ;  there  are  white  marks  upon  them,  to 
distinguish  respective  ranks ;  seven  for  the  principal. 

The  tent  covering  is  in  the  longest  forty  feet,  and 
somewhat  less  than  twenty  in  width.  It  is  in  stripes 
lengthways,  for  the  convenience  of  carriage.  This  cover 
is  stretched  over  a  transverse  bar,  supported  by  two 
upright  poles  in  the  form  of  the  Greek  letter  IT,  under 
which  generally  hangs  a  curtain  which  divides  the  tent 
into  two  parts,  each  about  fifteen  feet  square.  The 
poles  are  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  the  extremities  of 
the  covering  coming  to  within  two  feet  of  the  ground, 
where  sometimes  bundles  of  rushes  are  placed.  The 
tent  may  be  easily  enlarged  by  adding  a  stripe  or 
more  to  the  covering,  and  then  stretching  out  the 
hanging  parts,  but  that  would  require  the  uprights 
and  the  pins  to  be  strengthened.  Thus,  Isaiah  (chap, 
liv.  2),  "  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  and  let  them 
stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  thine  habitations  :  spare 
not ;  lengthen  thy  cords  and  strengthen  thy  stakes/' 

The  stripes  are  unlaced  when  they  remove  their 
encampment  and  rolled  up.  The  length  of  the 
tent  is  facing  the  centre  of  the  circle.  The  form 
seems  to  have  undergone  a  change.  The  gable,  which 
is  now  transversely  placed,  must  have  formerly  run 
through  the  length.  At  least  so  alone  could  the 
description  of  Sallust  be  correct,  "Oblonga  incurvis 
lateribus  tecta,  quasi  navium  carinas."  —  The  tents 
were  formerly  transported  on  waggons. 


454  THE   WORD   "HOME.; 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   TENT   AND    "HOME." 


Few  sounds  awaken  more  pleasing  associations  than 
the  tent  of  the  Arab.  Palace,  castle,  tower  call  up 
visions  of  events  ;  but  "  tent "  drives  the  imagination 
back  upon  itself  to  discover  in  its  own  nature  the 
resemblances  and  the  method  of  the  noblest  men  and 
the  simplest  manners.  The  tent,  not  the  camel,  is  the 
ship  of  the  desert ;  the  moveable  home  that  makes 
the  strangest  spot  familiar,  the  wildest  habitable. 
One  other  word  alone  can  be  placed  beside  it — our 
English  "Home." 

Engaged  in  this  reflection  I  inquired  the  Arabic 
name,  and  was  answered,  Heyme !  Home  is  in 
English  an  exotic.  It  is  used  adverbially  as  well  as 
substantively.  It  applies  in  a  manner  inconsistent 
with  a  fixed  abode,  and  evidently  pertains  to  the 
system  of  Celtic  ministry  and  nomade  habits,  rather 
than  to  feudalism.  It  belongs  to  a  family  with  a 
moveable  habitation. 

Home  stands  by  itself  as  the  name  of  a  place — 
"  Ham  House,"  "  the  Ham  Town,"  as  in  Northampton, 
Nottingham,  Buckingham,  i/ampstead.     I  had  observed 


THE   WORD   "HOME."  455 

that  such  names  generally  applied  to  a  low,  or  a  pro- 
tected site.  In  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  within 
the  memory  of  man,  the  pasturage  was  distributed 
between  the  two  seasons ;  the  cattle  being  taken 
to  the  higher  regions  in  the  summer,  the  lower  por- 
tions being  reserved  for  their  support  during  the 
winter.  The  shieling  was  erected  for  the  farm  service 
in  the  summer  ;  the  homestead,  or  hame,  was  the 
winter  abode ;  I  had,  therefore,  concluded  that  home 
or  hame  was  derived  from  hyems.  I  had  been  struck 
by  a  similar  analogy  in  the  Turkish  word  for  castle, 
Icishla,  from  Irish.  Winter  was  first  applied  to  the 
solid  buildings  of  the  winter  farm  as  contrasted  with 
the  yazin,  or  light  shielings  erected  on  the  summer 
pasturage. 

This  word,  so  peculiarly  English,  is  not  confined  to 
England.  It  is  used  nearly  in  our  adverbial  sense 
throughout  the  north  of  Europe,  and  in  our  topographic 
sense  in  France.  There  is  Ham,  de  Ham,  as  the  names 
of  places,  and  every  village  is  their  hameau. 

In  Africa  we  have  the  same  thing.  El  Ham,  the 
name  of  a  place  (Algeria).  Hamma  (Breber)  for 
village,  or  quarter  of  a  town.  In  Judaea,  hammoth, 
hamma,  Laga.  *  The  home  of  Arab  independence  is 
Tihama.  f 

*  The  Jews,  even  after  their  sojourn  of  centuries  in  the  Holy 
Land,  did  not  lose  the  habit  of  dwelling  in  tents,  and  probably, 
as  here,  there  was  a  city  and  a  nomade  population ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, "  The  dwellers  in  tents,"  Psa.  lxxxiii.  6.  "  The  tents  of 
Israel,"  Zech.  xii.  7.     "  The  tents  of  Kedar,"  Song  i.  5. 

f  "  Tihama,  the  abode  of  the  sons  of  Maad.     There  they  came 


456  THE   WORD   "HOME." 

There  could  not  be  in  French,  English,  German, 
Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  Breber,  a  word 
implying  both  a  state  of  weather  and  a  habitation, 
by  accident.  In  the  early  times  there  was  no  difficulty 
in  transferring  usages  and  names.  Each  region  was 
not  replenished,  nor  each  tongue  complete. 

Hayme  may  come  either  from  heat  or  cold  ;  it  may 
mean  "  the  hot "  or  "  the  shady  "  place.  Chem  or 
Ham,  also,  is  hot.  Ham  was  the  name  given  to  Egypt 
from  its  black  soil.  In  northern  India,  Hima  is  cold.* 
Home  serves  as  protection  against  cold  and  snow — 
against  sun  and  heat.  The  tent  may  appear  to  us, 
with  our  city  habits,  the  most  primitive  of  dwellings  ; 
but  in  considering  the  matter  I  should,  I  think,  have 
arrived  at  an  opposite  conclusion,  even  if  we  had  not 
had  another  distribution  laid  down  in  the  oldest  of 
books.  There  is  first  the  emblem  of  a  garden — a 
refuge  under  its  bowers  ;  next,  in  the  person  of  Cain, 
comes  the  planting  of  seeds ;  then  follows  close,  Abel 
tending  the  most  peaceable  of  milk-giving  animals — 
sheep.  A  third  generation  arrives,  who  make  dwell- 
ings :  they  build  a  city.  A  period  of  multiplication 
elapses,  and  then  Adah  bears  unto  Lamech,  Jabal,  the 
"father  of  such  as  dwell  in  tents  and  have  cattle." 
The  nomade  life  was,  therefore,  a  variety ;  and  the 

for  the  winter." — Song  on  the  death  of  Koulayb.       Tihama   is 
derived   from       *}    Taham.     See  Edressi,  Georg. ;  Drummond's 

Origines,  vol.  iii.  p.  260.     Ham'am — bath — is  derived  from  the 
same  word. 

*  An  equally  near  approach  is  caldo,  cold.     In  the  Greek, 
Phrygia,  "  burnt  up" — the  Latin,  frigus. 


THE   MOORISH   TENT.  457 

subjecting  of  cattle  to  the  plough  was  the  second 
agricultural  state,  where  wandering  and  shepherd 
tribes  settled  themselves  down  on  pleasant  lands  which 
they  had  discovered,  or  in  territories  they  had  overrun. 
Jabal's  brother  was  Jubal,  the  inventor  of  the  harp 
and  minstrelsy.  Joyousness  then  followed  the  tent  ; 
and  immediately  after  comes  industry  with  its  forges 
and  its  cares,  its  sweats  and  profits ;  and  Tubal  Cain 
taught  men  to  smelt  and  puddle,  and  presented  them 
with  brass  and  steel. 

The  Moorish  tent  is  quite  different  from  the  Arab. 
It  is  of  white  cotton,  and  of  the  ordinary  form  of  the 
officers1  tent  in  all  European  armies.  The  curtain  is 
more  upright,  and  the  roof  slants  up.  The  mechan- 
ism is  different.  The  cover  and  the  curtain  are  in 
separate  parts.  The  roof  spreads  out  with  a  fringe 
hanging  round  it ;  if  shade  only  is  required  the 
curtains  are  not  added.  It  stands  as  a  large  um- 
brella ;  the  stem  nine  or  ten  feet  high,  and  the  top 
thirty  feet  in  circumference.  Against  high  winds 
they  have  guys  or  stays,  which,  like  our  cables  of  a 
ship,  they  lay  out  to  windward.  The  operation  of 
pitching  commences  with  securing  those  stays,  which 
are  three  in  number  ;  then  the  cords  of  the  umbrella 
are  spread,  and  then  the  curtain  is  fitted  round.  It 
is  between  five  and  six  feet  deep,  of  double  cloth, 
strengthened  by  thin  rods  like  the  bones  of  ladies' 
stays,  and  one  to  each  cord  of  the  roof.  This  cur- 
tain is  in  one  piece — is  carried  in  a  roll,  and  when 
fitted,  the  roll  is  set  upright,  and  the  right  side  of 

VOL.  I.  H  H 


458  THE   MOORISH   TENT  AND 

the  place  left  for  the  door,  and  so  unwound  and  laced 
all  round  till  it  is  brought  to  the  door  on  the  other 
side  ;  it  is  then  fastened  below  by  small  pegs.  There 
is  a  strong  binding  round  the  top,  and  this,  with  the 
rods,  gives  solidity  to  the  edifice,  without  in  any  per- 
ceptible degree  increasing  the  weight  or  cumbersomeness 
for  carriage.  It  is  much  more  easily  managed  from 
being  in  two  parts,  and  the  superior  and  moveable 
stays  are  of  the  greatest  advantage.  Having  cut  out 
tents,  and  having  more  than  once  had  to  repair  the 
loss  of  them  by  the  work  of  my  own  servants,  I  am, 
perhaps,  qualified  beyond  most  dwellers  in  houses  to 
speak  on  the  subject.  Putting  aside  magnificence 
or  grandeur,  and  having  in  view  use  and  adaptation,  I 
may  say  I  never  knew  what  a  tent  was  until  I  had  seen 
those  of  Morocco.  *  It  is  ornamented  with  a  golden 
ball ;  the  flaming  sword  on  the  cloths  of  the  roof  and 
the  valance  imitates  the  crenulated  top  of  a  battlement. 
The  colour  of  these  devices  is  blue. 

In  the  description  of  the  Jewish  Tabernacle  we  have 
exactly  the  Moorish  manner  of  pitching.  Blue  is 
the  first  colour  mentioned ;  purple  and  red  follow. 
But  these  may  have  been  added  as  distinctive  to  the 
sacred  tent,  as  they  were  to  the  priestly  garments  ; 
and  as  blue  distinguished  the  common  clothing  of 
the  Israelites,  so  might  it  be  expected  to  be  the  mark 
of  his  tent.  The  manner  of  lacing  the  curtain  to 
the  roof  is  precisely  that  described  in  Exodus,  xxv.  45 : 

*  I  find  that  this  is  much  the  plan  used  in  India,  even  to  the 
ornaments. 


MANNER   OF   PITCHING  IT.  459 

"  Thou  shalt  make  loops  of  blue  upon  the  edge  of 
the  one  curtain  from  the  selvage  in  the  coupling,  and 
also  on  the  other  curtain.  Fifty  loops  shalt  thou 
make  in  the  one  curtain,  and  fifty  loops  shalt  thou 
make  in  the  other,  so  that  the  loops  shall  take  hold 
of  one  another."  These  fifty  loops  were  to  be  of  the 
length  of  twenty-eight  cubits,  so  that  they  would  be  ten 
inches  apart.  This  is  precisely  the  manner  in  which 
the  curtain  of  the  Moorish  tent  is  fitted  to  the  roof, 
loop  through  loop  all  the  way  round,  and  the  loops 
are  not  far  from  the  above  distance  ;  and,  probably, 
in  the  larger  fittings  of  the  Sultan's  establishment, 
they  coincide  with  the  dimensions  laid  down  by  Moses. 

While  at  Rabat  I  had  failed  in  every  endeavour  to 
see  the  Shereffean  encampment.  I  at  last  was  gratified, 
as  on  quitting  the  city  we  passed  through  it.  I,  how- 
ever, neglected  to  take  note  of  it  in  these  nightly 
memoranda,  having  been  too  absorbed  by  the  new  life 
that  was  presented  to  me. 

Ten  thousand  cavalry — the  horses  picketed  close 
down,  or  rather  packed,  in  front  and  rear  of  the 
line  of  tents — were  encamped  in  one  enormous  and 
unbroken  figure.  It  was  an  oblong,  lengthways 
stretching  east  and  west.  The  centre  was  kept 
clear  and  unencumbered,  and  there  stood  the  Sul- 
tan's tents,  though  untenanted  by  him  :  the  appear- 
ance presented  was  that  of  a  miniature  fortress,  in 
the  centre  of  a  clear  esplanade — the  wall  or  curtain 
about  nine  feet,  the  turrets  at  the  corners  a  little 
more  ;  the  cornices  pointed  to  represent   the   crenu- 


460  TENTS  OF  THE   SULTAN. 

lated  battlements.  Over  this  the  tops  of  seven  or 
eight  turrets  appeared,  their  golden  balls  glittering 
in  the  sun. 

After  the  description  I  have  given  of  the  curtains 
or  wall  of  my  own  tent,  stiffened  with  lath  and 
pointed  to  imitate  a  battlement,  this  enclosure  of 
the  Sultan's  will  be  easily  understood,  and  it  cor- 
responds, even  to  the  dimensions,  with  that  which 
surrounded  the  tabernacle  of  the  Jews  in  the  wilder- 
ness, which  was  an  hundred  cubits  long,  fifty  broad, 
and  five  high  ;  the  length  was  also  from  east  to  west. 


END    OF    THE    FIRST    VOLUME. 


LONDON: 
Printed  by  S.  &  J.  Bentlky  and  Henry  Fley, 
Bangor  House,  Shoe  Lane 


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